The 2012 Olympics & London’s Biotech Aspirations for its Royal Docks
I recently had the pleasure of receiving a call from an economic development expert from the UK wishing to discuss if (in my opinion) London is perceived as a global biotech destination and also to ask what initiatives I’d seen or would think to be instrumental to building or strengthening a location as a life science hub. My contact’s objective was to create a letter to the Mayor of London that suggested – with the spotlight London expects from the hosting of the 2012 Summer Games – now would be the ideal time to implement a plan to develop a London submarket called “The Royal Docks” to attract a more diverse base of new technologies, life sciences being one of particular interest.
London competes for a share of the global Life Science market.
The letter’s finished product sparked my interest in London as having the tools to compete for a share of the global life science market. In many ways, the central nexus of academia in the UK (Cambridge, Oxford, and London – their own “Golden Triangle”, among others) is similar to what we have here in Massachusetts with Cambridge and Boston. Many of the pillars necessary to be attractive as a life science destination exist in both: access to world-class academic institutions, hospitals, and highly skilled employees being a few of the better known. Many of the same challenges underlie as well: cost of doing business, cost of living, availability of facilities and infrastructure, etc.
With the proper encouragement and investment by public and private entities, I see no reason why London can’t step up its game to compete for a larger share of the global life science market. Recent government-sponsored incentives such as significant R&D tax credits (200-225 percent) and tax-free capital gains for investors will certainly raise eyebrows and make it difficult to ignore the UK as an innovation destination. New, state-of-the-art facilities such as the GlaxoSmithKline Bioscience Park and the Francis Crick Institute are also ringing endorsements that the UK government and its corporate giants are fully vested in creating the infrastructure necessary to support medical research.
London's Royal Docks similar to Boston's Innovation District.
Interestingly, this concept of developing and branding the Royal Docks, among several other strategic locations, bears a striking resemblance to Boston’s similar push for its own Innovation District, its Seaport area that recently lured Vertex Pharmaceuticals to take over a million square feet to essentially kick off a new era in development in that submarket. While it remains to be seen how much impact that has on the neighborhood and whether Vertex’s occupancy will legitimize the Innovation District as a new life science destination akin to Cambridge (MA), it certainly has created a buzz that is leading to more and more questions from clients on its viability.
While, over time, I think a number of initiatives and some well-publicized “wins” for London’s Royal Docks could start propelling it up the ranks of global biotech destinations (recently ranked 10th, according to the World Economic Forum), one would think the 2012 Summer Games can provide a unique boost as well. As competition expands and continues to be fierce worldwide for a share of the growing healthcare market, this could be the ideal window for London to step up to the plate and take its shot to refine its raw elements and better capture industry. It’s certainly a market to monitor and time will tell how these efforts impact the status of the UK versus other rising stars across the globe.
Handbooks: Winning Real Estate and Facilities Strategies for Life Science Companies
