Keynote Insights from Steve Bates at ELRIG’s Research & Innovation 2024 Conference
The future of Drug Discovery
Steve Bates is the CEO of the UK Bioindustry Association, the UK’s Trade Association for innovative life science companies and he also serves on the UK Government’s Life Sciences Council and the UK Biosecurity Leadership Council.
Steve’s Keynote: Supporting the UK’s globally competitive innovation ecosystem
There is a fundamental shift in how life science research is being carried out, the computational tools are transforming early drug discovery which in turn leads to real chemistry, advanced diagnostics and innovative therapies.
Steve’s keynote will be talking about these changes and how the UK provides both the structural and skills sets needed to be at the forefront. He will dive further into:
- Integration of tech in life sciences will allow us to meet the challenges of tomorrow, precision medicine in oncology, AMR and animal-free drug discovery are all possible through Big Data & AI.
- The UK houses unparalleled research hubs like the Francis Crick inst. just over the road from global leaders in AI at Google DeepMind facility in Kings Cross.
- Key to taking advantage of new technologies is nurturing the next generation of talent, in digital skills, manufacturing and leadership.
- AI & ML are only as good as the datasets they are trained with. The NHS is a unique treasure trove of longitudinal data but data diversity is key to ensuring equality of treatment.
- Diversity in thinking is as important as diversity in data and creating a diverse team and wider life science sector will improve innovation for all.
More about Steve Bates
Steve Bates is the CEO of the UK Bioindustry Association, the UK’s Trade Association for innovative life science companies with over 550 members. Steve is the visible face of the vibrant UK life sciences industry to government and media. He serves on the UK Government’s Life Sciences Council and the UK Biosecurity Leadership Council. Steve was a founder member of the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce in the Covid crisis, sitting on its steering Board alongside Kate Bingham. He is active member and former chair the International Council of Biotech Associations and has been a board member of Europabio since 2015.
Steve has championed, with government, effective industrial incentives like the Biomedical Catalyst, which have crowded in private sector investment into UK SMES. He is a driving force behind the scale up agenda, spearheading policy agenda to unlock UK pension fund capital into productive UK growth in life sciences . He has forged several links for the sector across the USA, Europe and in China. In his time at the BIA, Steve has developed new member groups focused on cell and gene therapy, genomics and engineered biology.
A strong advocate of partnership working, Steve champions sector collaboration with research charities and academia. Proud to lead an organisation with a diverse Board with over 40% female representation, Steve is committed to next generation talent and developing the skills needed for the sector to flourish.
Before joining the BIA in 2012the BIA, Steve worked for Genzyme and was advisor to the UK Government of Tony Blair working on NHS reform and the Northern Ireland peace process. He was made OBE for services to innovation in 2017 and became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science in 2020.
