An incredible new medicine campus is set to come to Manchester’s Enterprise Zone as Health Innovation Manchester announce an exciting new project. The development, which will see a world-leading precision medicine campus being built on the UK’s largest clinical academic campus, has involved global diagnostics company QIAGEN who’ve worked jointly with Health Innovation Manchester to bring forward the scheme.

The project has been welcomed by both civic and business leaders which could create and support up to 1,500 new jobs whilst boosting the regional economy by almost £150m in the first decade alone – with other benefits including the acceleration of health benefits to those living in Greater Manchester as well as further afield both nationally and globally.

Prof Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester and keynote speaker at the Greater Manchester Economic Growth Conference, said: ”We’re delighted by the announcement that Qiagen NV, a major and innovative diagnostic company, will significantly increase their research and development activities in Manchester. It is excellent news for the city region and for the University of Manchester. This major inward investment demonstrates confidence in the city region and the University. At the University of Manchester, genomics, personalised medicine and early diagnosis of disease are major research activities, notably in cancer, one of our five ‘research beacons’. Qiagen has great expertise that is highly relevant to each of these areas.”

She added: ”Attracting companies in the life sciences will add further to the attractiveness of Manchester and the University of Manchester as a hub of scientific discovery and medical expertise. Our research in life sciences and health is renowned world-wide and we’re delighted to welcome expansion of such an exciting global business in healthcare to Manchester.”

Manchester City Council, who’ll also be at the Greater Manchester Economic Growth Conference, have backed the scheme by approving up to £21m of investment into the project, whilst Greater Manchester Combined Authority have already agreed to provide £3m of loan funding.

Life sciences contribute a huge total to the UK economy – last year totalled more than £10.8bn – and this announcement staples their status as a world leader within the growing industry.

Mayor Andy Burnham, who’ll also be speaking at the Greater Manchester Economic Growth Conference, said of the announcement: ”We’ve always led the way in Greater Manchester, whether it’s cutting edge science and technology, being at the forefront of social change, or pioneering partnerships across different sectors. The NHS was ‘born’ here in Greater Manchester in the middle of the 20th century, 70 years ago and last week we celebrated this. This week we secure our position in 21st century health innovation with this global deal.”

Another speaker of the Greater Manchester Economic Growth Conference is Rowena Burns, Chair of Health Innovation Manchester and Chair of Manchester Science Partnerships. Of the announcement she said: ”This is a hugely important step-change for Greater Manchester’s already strong life sciences sector. The new health innovation campus, with Qiagen at its heart, will support the continued growth of businesses which are driving the future shape of medicine and health care, and cement our position as a world-leader in precision medicine. This is precisely what Health Innovation Manchester was set up to do, and combined with our devolved health and social care system, places us in an incredibly strong position to address the health challenges of the population. For MSP, this is a massive testimony to the existing strength of our partnerships with Qiagen, who have already added so much to the City’s life sciences community. They’ll now become the flagship for the next phase of our Oxford Road Citylabs campus, being developed by MSP’s majority shareholder, Bruntwood, for MSP and our joint venture partner, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.”

It’s another incredibly exciting development in Greater Manchester and we can’t wait to hear more! Join us at the Greater Manchester Economic Growth Conference.