Investment and Recruitment in Life Sciences 

As an industry, Life Sciences in Scotland is in rude health. It is fast becoming a world-class hub for innovation. The breadth of sub-sectors that fall into this ecosystem is vast, each one vital to the ever-growing importance of life sciences to Scotland. 

Driven forward by the inspiring Life Sciences Industry Leadership Group Scotland, in partnership with the Scottish Government, the sector has ambitious plans, including reaching a turnover of £8bn by 2025. 

Life Sciences has also been defined as a priority sector of economic significance by the Scottish Government, and there are now more than 750 organisations employing over 30,000 people at the last count. 

A Challenging Sector

Still, it has traditionally been a challenging sector in which to source finance and find the right talent to scale.

Our Life Sciences team have worked hard to support the country's fantastic talent to connect with the inspiring businesses building global reputations from their Scottish base. 

However, finance is a critical piece of the puzzle. So we teamed up with the experts from Young Company Finance to uncover the changing nature of investment in this sector. 

We wanted to understand what this looks like right now, how it might change over the next few years, and what impact that might have on the labour market over the next few years. 

So we have produced the first of our annual sector reports highlighting two critical areas for the sector's growth in the coming years.    

Life Sciences Expert Interviews

There is insight on investment from Young Company Finance Director Jonathan Harris and a comprehensive overview of recruitment in life sciences from Eden Scott Director Ian Grant.

We have interviews with sector leaders, including:

• Richard Boyd, CEO @ Invizius
• Adam Christie, CEO @ Calcivis
• Gillian Hill, COO @ ODx Innovations
• Dr Nicola Broughton, Chair @ Wobble Genomics
• Dr Holly J Butler, Head of Product Development @ DXCover

Hopefully, our annual report will become your guide to building for the future with your Life Sciences start-up.