Innovation and partnership are the key focus for Indian delegation

The one day event, a spin out from the annual London conference, was secured and hosted by the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for the second year running and marks the only activity outside of the capital for the Indian delegation. The programme, curated by the LEP in partnership with the University of Leeds, focused upon the heritage of innovation in the region and provided an exclusive look at the disruptive research being undertaken by the nine universities and the private sector companies located in the largest City Region outside London and the South East.

Speakers on the day included the former head of Cancer Research UK and current Director of Research at Leeds Institute of Data Analytics, Professor Sir Alex Markham and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research & Innovation at the University of Leeds Professor David Hogg. Alongside this attendees, including representatives from the Indian equivalent of UKTI, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and senior business leaders, were introduced to the unique healthcare ecosystem of the City Region.

David Shepherd, Director of Trade and Investment at the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership commented, ""Our healthcare sector is a critical part of a truly unique ecosystem for businesses of all sizes, which includes one of Europe�s largest teaching hospitals. In fact our sector strengths are recognised by Government, with four out of five UK NHS bodies headquartered here.

�During the delegation�s visit it was important to highlight our track record of driving innovation across healthcare, including in medical engineering as the home of the Charnley hip replacement and the world�s first hand transplant, and digital healthcare as the home of two of the largest healthcare record providers; TPP and Emis. As such it was fantastic to partner with the University of Leeds and emphasise the world leading research and development taking place here.

""This visit formed part of the LEP�s proactive strategy to engage with businesses from across the globe and demonstrate the compelling sector strengths that exist here. The delegation also built upon the work of our ongoing campaign as part of HM Government�s GREAT UK Challenge Fund, which in February led a delegation to Bangalore to showcases the innovative excellence that exists across all of our key business sectors.""

Speaking of the event, Pratik Dattani, UK Director of FICCI commented, ""This is the second year that our London event has had a Leeds City Region element. I'm always impressed with the scale and accessibility of the healthcare sector here. It�s fantastic to see how international organisations based here, such as Tissue Regenix and Imhotep Diagnostics, are transforming the academic research of the universities into businesses that can not only benefit the economy but also the people of the world. Through this partnership working it is clear that these academics and businesses are shaping the future of the healthcare sector.�

Mr Shepherd concluded, �This event has allowed us to deepen relations between businesses here and in India and explore in more detail possible areas of collaboration. We will now focus on transforming this potential into economic benefit for the City Region.�

To find out more information about Leeds City Region�s unique healthcare ecosystem click here.