Robin Twyman

Robin Twyman

Consul for Business and Government Affairs

Part of Partners in Prosperity

7th July 2011

UK firms shine at BIO 2011

The following is a guest blog by Spencer Mahony, HM Consul & UKTI Regional Director for the South East US, British Embassy Washington.

The 2011 BIO International Convention last week in Washington was an event of mind-boggling size: 15,000 attendees from around the globe descended on the Washington Convention Centre to showcase their biotechnology projects, breakthroughs, and investment opportunities. The UK was well represented. There were around 500 UK delegates, the second largest international delegation after the Canadians.

The convention gave life science firms from all corners of the world the chance to shine. Amongst the brightest to shine were the 24 UK companies who were part of the UKTI delegation. Our UKTI team in partnership with Scottish Development International (SDI) put together an impressive exhibit. Staff from the US, India, Canada, Australia, China amongst others put their heads together to produce an inspiring display. Between the prime positioning on the convention centre floor, and the iconic design elements, our stand became a magnet for interest. This was of great benefit to the 12 UK companies who had their own exhibition pods within the UK stand to showcase their business and host meetings. Throughout the week, we had business executives and world-class researchers coming by to don 3D glasses and take in a unique presentation on business opportunities in the UK. Our UKTI staff and a number of the UK firms got time with Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick – who will welcome BIO 2012 to Boston – as he toured the UK Pavilion.

The convention floor pavilion was just a part of our work around BIO 2011. We hosted a breakfast here at the Embassy for Canadian and Australian delegation members to network and meet potential UK partners. Our event for corporate-level executives on Tuesday, held at the intriguing International Spy Museum, was extremely well attended; the Embassy’s Deputy Head of Mission, Philip Barton, addressed the attendees and pushed home our key messages about the UK’s world class science base and excellent reputation for drug discovery.

The high interest in biotech partnerships with UK firms comes as no surprise; after all, the UK is one of the world’s premier locations for life science work. Indeed the medical biotechnology sector in the UK is vibrant with over 900 companies in this sector and a turnover of more than £5.5bn. The UK is also home to a full tenth of all the world’s research and development funding. Our universities are among the best in the world, and produce a high proportion of the top researchers: 70 Nobel Prize winners in scientific disciplines have UK roots.

Biotechnology in the UK continues to excite the biomedical research community. Businesses are bringing new products to market and announcing major breakthroughs all the time. New initiatives from the UK Government continue to make the UK the place to do business. These include higher tax relief on R&D which will be rising to 225% by April 2012.  A new preferential regime for profits arising from patents, ‘a Patent box’, which will also provide a reduced rate of corporation tax, 10%, from patents held in the UK. The UK remains the best place in Europe to do business.

The UK is open for business for biotech investment. And thanks to the tremendous work of our staff and partners at BIO 2011, this message was delivered to BIO attendees loud and clear. Now the exciting work of facilitating the partnerships and investments begins.

About Robin Twyman

Robin Twyman took up his posting as Consul for Business and Government Affairs at the UK Government Office in Seattle in January 2013. He was previously First Secretary (Trade Policy,…

Robin Twyman took up his posting as Consul for Business and Government Affairs at the UK Government Office in Seattle in January 2013. He was previously First Secretary (Trade Policy, Business Affairs and Agriculture) at the British Embassy in Washington.

Born in Canterbury, Kent, in 1968, Robin joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1987. His diplomatic career has seen him serve overseas tours in Harare, Zimbabwe (1989-1992), and Geneva, Switzerland (2001-2006), plus short overseas tours in Mozambique, Mauritius, Russia, Abu Dhabi, Israel, Jordan, DR Congo, Albania, Zambia, Qatar, Nigeria, Syria, and Yemen.

Robin’s assignments have covered a wide range of duties. In Geneva, Robin was a UK delegate to the World Trade Organisation, where his portfolio included the Doha Trade Round’s agriculture negotiations, and trade disputes. Whilst there, he was elected to serve as a chair on one of the WTO’s sub-committees. In the FCO in London, Robin has been a Foreign Office Press Officer (1999-2001), Horn of Africa desk officer, a manager for the UK’s Afghanistan Counter Narcotics programme, and headed up the UK’s South Atlantic Overseas Territories team.

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2011 bio development international science scottish technology uk ukti