The UK's success in combining academia and the private sector to bring the Oxford /AZ vaccine to market in record time shows what can be achieved through collaboration.

Leif Johansson, Chairman of Astra Zeneca recently stressed the importance for the UK to remain a leading R&D location as he opened the impressive new £1bn AZ R&D Campus in Cambridge.

For many years UK private sector investment in life sciences R&D on a GDP per capita basis has lagged behind other countries, even though we are known to have some of the best universities and academic brains in the sector.

Early stage institutional risk capital would rather invest in sectors with more instant and visible returns. In broader healthcare this is changing with Medtech and digital healthcare receiving increased investment in recent years, but pure biotech R&D remains still limited with funding for expensive phase 1 clinical trials often struggling to progress.

Having lived in Singapore, I have seen first hand how a nascent life sciences sector grew into a multibillion dollar industry in a decade driven by private sector investment flows, supported by an accommodating government policy package of infrastructure, taxes and financial support.

There are significant opportunities for more joined up thinking across the ecosystem of public sector, big pharma and the investor community, as evidenced by the positive impact the sector has made on the economy, public and government over the last 18 months.

Matching investors who understand this impact with early stage life sciences companies is key to successfully driving the UK's future global position in this sector.