Melanie Davidson is the Chief Executive Officer at Medilink Midlands. We recently caught up with Melanie to find out more about her background, her role and what part, she believes, Medilink Midlands can play in shaping the life sciences and med tech sectors across the Midlands region.
How did you come to join Medilink Midlands?
I joined Medilink in 2010, as an Innovation Adviser, directly from EMDA, East Midlands Development Agency. I had worked closely with Medilink whilst at EMDA, covering international inward investment in health care – and food and drink – so I was familiar with the organisation and the team. It seemed a natural step for me to join Medilink as EMDA began winding up.
There were a lot of crossovers between the two organisations, such as the Innovation Network (INET) and the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) programmes. I continued to support the life sciences and healthcare companies, engaging and networking with them. It’s an element of my work, both then and now, I really enjoy. The creativity and drive, not to mention innovation, is fantastic to see and be involved with.
What has been your biggest challenge to date?
There’s been a few! The ERDF programme, which only wrapped up earlier this year, was very demanding; managing the roll out, supporting innovations and managing the people involved has been a big challenge, but one we all rose to.
I think managing people, recognising their needs and what makes them happy and productive comes with a whole new set of challenges and although we’ve had some high profile internal changes, I believe we’ve adapted well, and we now have a team of knowledgeable, experienced and enthusiastic individuals all pulling together to deliver what’s needed for the life sciences and med tech sectors across the region.
The combining of East and West Midlands has also been a big challenge. It made sense to bring the two set ups under one umbrella and align ourselves with organisations like Midlands Engine, as well as all the healthcare sector activities within the region. New systems, new processes, new targets – again, it didn’t come without its difficulties, but we’ve adapted, evolved and moved forward.
Before taking over as CEO, initially in an interim capacity and then permanently as of August this year, I’d previously taken over all of the operational needs of the business when Darren Clark, who remains our Deputy Chair, moved aside. So, it’s been a sharp learning curve but a natural progression to now be the organisation’s CEO.
Are you happy with your team?
I am. I believe we have a really good balance of roles, skills and experience. As we’ve grown, we’ve been able to split out some of the roles to strengthen members’ skillsets. We’ve also got an excellent balance within our Advisory teams for both East and West Midlands and all our Advisers have certain expertise in particular areas. We will grow the team as the needs demand, but I like the fact that we’re a fairly lean organisation as it means we can pivot and react quickly to the needs of the sector.
How do you think the life sciences sector view Medilink Midlands?
Because we cover the whole of the Midlands, I believe the sectors we represent see the value of one organisation talking with one voice for the regional healthcare and life sciences sectors. A collective has more influence and that’s certainly important for things such as funding. The sector is fragmented and Medilink Midlands is seen as having a clear vision across all the elements.
This positioning has also opened up opportunities for us. We have now registered the trademark, Voice of Industry, and I believe that, moving forward, we will be able to represent our sectors more strongly across, and on behalf of, the region. In doing so, we need to be able to understand what the individual companies need, what their challenges are and how we can help, and we can then be that organisation that takes these issues forward.
We’re soon to roll out our Voice of Industry survey which will allow us to collate invaluable feedback. This, again, will allow us a better understanding of what the sector, as individual organisations, need and what we, as a collective voice, can achieve for them.
This year, we’ve also engaged a Partner and Relationship Manager. Jo Bekis, who has a wealth of commercial experience, is working hard to bring members together. Listening to what they want and how we can represent them and working to build relationships with likeminded and helpful peers.
All of the steps we’re taking are moving us in the right direction.
What do you see as the challenges facing the life sciences sector across the Midlands and what role do you believe Medilink Midlands can play in that?
Some of the challenges have been long-standing and we’re already working to address them; others are more recent.
For instance, Brexit is still an issue for a lot of companies, where they’re looking at overseas engagement or moving into another market. Also, the regulatory side doesn’t get any easier for a lot of businesses. The complication of only having a limited number of notarised bodies available makes life difficult for them and, of course, it all takes time. Companies really shouldn’t be waiting 18 months to 2 years to get approval for a product to reach market. That’s frustrating.
Also, the skills gap. We’re potentially looking at so many new innovations, the Universities are having to react, put on new courses for areas that might not have existed previously, for instance, AI. There’s no training for it because it’s so new.
Skills retention; keeping that talent in the region. The last thing we want is to see trained and talented individuals leave the area when they could be a great asset to companies based here. We need to work hard to attract and retain the skillset.
Fragmentation in funding. Post ERDF, funding is extremely fragmented. The West Midlands, through the West Midland Combined Authority is in a good position and has attracted funding and support for programmes such as the West Midlands Innovation Authority. It’s a different picture for the East Midlands however. With no combined authority, funding comes through the district and local councils which is much more difficult, and less of it! Where Medilink Midlands can help is by offering assistance and advice in other ways to support life sciences in those regions.
It’s also why we’ve recently engaged Christian Kumar as our Entrepreneur in Residence; it felt like exactly the right time to bring him in as Christian has wealth of commercial knowledge and experience and can help with advice for those businesses looking to commercialise their innovations.
You’re involved with a number of regional sector boards now, do you find these beneficial?
In sitting on these boards, I believe it’s not just helpful to Medilink Midlands in continuing to raise our profile, but the experience and insight we’ve gained over the last twenty years, is helpful to share with other areas in the region that might be looking to achieve similar success.
It’s also good to be part of the Midlands Engine Working Group and have some influence there. I believe people are recognising the value of having Medilink Midlands represented on these boards.
Looking ahead
Next year is the twentieth anniversary of Medilink so we really want to make some noise around that. I believe it shows our longevity and our relevance. We’ll have our annual Business Awards in May which are being held at the Athena in Leicester and we have a few surprises up our sleeves ready for that one. With it being such a landmark occasion, we really want to bring the celebratory aspect to the fore for this event.
Innovation Day was a huge success this year and as an annual event, we want to make sure we keep the momentum going and deliver another, equally successful event next October.
And we also have MTI, the Med-Tech Innovation Expo and Conference, which, with a more collaborative approach with partners and other sector organisations, looks like it will be key event for us next year.
To learn more about Melanie and the team, visit our meet the team page here.