Jun 13 2016
Experts from across the science and tech sector were brought together during a debate held at the Royal Society in London.
The Science Insight event which was the first in a series of thought leadership seminars to be hosted by contractor Willmott Dixon, was chaired by industry figurehead Steve Bates, with The Guardian columnist and university lecturer Kieron Flanagan and bioscience expert Martino Picardo making up the rest of the panel.
The audience enjoyed a lively debate covering a range of issues facing the science and tech industry including the challenges and opportunities presented by devolution and the requirement for private developers to see science and tech as commercially viable for it to really flourish.
This was a hugely interesting panel debate between experienced industry experts, looking at the changes that have taken place within the science and tech sector over the last 12 to 18 months.
Nick Gibb, managing director at Willmott Dixon
“It is very clear that there is a need for an increased science capability within the UK. However the road to delivering that is somewhat unclear. Motivating property developers to engage with the sector and see it as commercially valuable will be really important in improving investment in capital works within the sector.
We are already starting to see this within the higher education sector, as universities increasingly focus on the societal impact of their estates development and teaming up with private sector businesses – but this will need to go further if we are to see significant improvements in capital delivery.
Nick Gibb
The debate highlighted a number of key schemes across the country, including Nottingham City Council’s BioCity and new biosciences building that is currently underway at Alderley Park in Manchester.