COVID-19 SME Survey: The results
In rapid response to the COVID-19 crisis, MedCity has played a pivotal role in listening to and responding to the life sciences sector’s needs. We joined up with One Nucleus and SEHTA to conduct a survey of SMEs to understand the impact on their businesses and provide insights into how we could best support them in these turbulent times. Below we reveal our survey findings and the actions we have taken in direct response.
The survey asked about:
1) the three main challenges the companies foresee in the next few weeks
2) the critical issues they would like us to raise
3) what companies foresee as the medium-term (6-12 months) effects on their business.
Read the results here
How we are supporting SMEs to address these issues
The results have been used to host two webinars with international law firm, Taylor Wessing, and business advisory and consulting firm, FTI Consulting, to deep dive into the main areas of support requested. One has already been but we have another coming up TODAY.
- Thursday 23rd April: How the government job retention scheme can help life sciences companies and employees – featuring live, free Q&A with an expert legal panel. Enabling SMEs concerned with cash flow/ retaining employees to receive advice and ask questions pertinent to their specific organisation – see the presentation here.
- Thursday 30th April 1.30-2.30pm: Ensuring best use of the financial and tax measures introduced to help during the COVID-19 crisis. Featuring live, free Q&A with an expert finance and tax specialist panel – sign up here
The results have also been shared with key stakeholders in the ecosystem and will help inform the shaping of further sector support.
The government has since announced various funding packages that could help ease some of the financial strains reported. Given the rapid progression of the pandemic and evolving needs we are conducting a second survey in May. We want to gauge the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on your businesses, understand where the funding gaps are and the impact of government support.
May Survey: Send us an email to communications@medcityhq.com to sign up for the survey mailing list. Please use this survey as an opportunity to feedback your needs and areas of concern during the current crisis and as we move out of lockdown.
You can also find specialist resources and information on our website around relevant funding sources.