Brief 2023 review and 2024 outlook
Happy New Year.
I hope that you have had an enjoyable end of year break, and for those whose New Year saw you immediately thrown into the action of JP Morgan week in San Francisco, I hope you had a productive trip.
As we begin 2024, I thought I would take a few minutes to reflect on a few of MedCity’s highlights from 2023 as well as looking forward to what is to come in 2024.
Looking back
2023 was a year of change for MedCity as we formally merged with London and Partners. So there has definitely been a period of finding our feet within the new structure, and of course the team also had to get used to having a new CEO! I am immensely proud of how the team have embraced all of this change and with what they have delivered. A couple of the highlights of 2023 for me were the launch of the London Health Accelerator for Social Science and taking one of our largest ever delegations to BioJapan where we were also joined by several of our Grow London Global companies and Deputy Mayor for London Rajesh Agrawal.
But the New Year is about looking forward rather than back, so here is a little of what 2024 has in store for the life science sector in London
Looking ahead
Opportunities
Life sciences was an early adopter of AI, and we expect this to continue to accelerate. Indeed we saw London-based digital biology company Isomorphic Labs recently announce deals with Eli Lilly and Novartis combined worth nearly $3 billion based on exploiting Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold AI tech which is at the heart of Isomorphic’s platform. And MedCity will also be exploring more options to support early stage growing TechBio companies in the coming year.
We expect to see confidence return to investment in Life Sciences at every level and will be holding a range of pitching and access to funding events to support London Life Science growth companies in securing the investment they need.
Challenges
There are likely to continue to be challenges around servicing the growing life science workforce requirements and we look forward to working with our colleagues within London and Partners to address this gap. We will also be publishing an update to our demand report showing how the demand for lab spaces is being addressed and whether any gaps still exist.
Final words
Finally, with a general election expected in the second half of this year, we will want to ensure that the benefits of the life science ecosystem to the London and UK economies and the importance of continued investment in life science innovation and development remains high on the agenda. We will therefore be launching the Life Science Proposition for London in the Spring, to tell the story of life science in London in a single place as well as looking for other ways to promote and celebrate life science across the capital.
We would also love to promote your successes too, so do let us know if you have news you would like us to amplify through our newsletter or social media channels. And above all I wish you a happy and successful 2024.