Pfizer announces partnership with UK university

Pfizer and Swansea University have announced plans to collaborate on a new Innovation Hub at Swansea University’s new £450 million Bay Campus. The initiative launches a ‘new memorandum of understanding’ that will see the university and Pfizer collaborate to initiate health initiatives across Wales.

The move will see Pfizer set up an Innovate Hub at the University, located in the School of Management on the Fabian Way campus whilst also working with the Medical School’s Institute of Life Science Enterprise and Innovation at the Singleton Campus.

Announcing the collaborative venture, Erik Nordkamp, Managing Director, Pfizer UK, said: "We’re pleased to announce our intention to collaborate with Swansea University. Partnership working between the pharmaceutical industry, academia and the NHS is essential for tackling today’s demands on the health system. Through sharing our different skills and expertise we really can make a difference to improving health outcomes for patients, and developing new ways of supporting the provision of healthcare."

The deal comes at a time of major investment in the South West of Wales. More than £1.3 billion could be pumped into the region as part of an investment package aiming to improve the digital infrastructure and facilities in the area of health and life sciences. The so-called ‘City Deal’ will see 10,000 new jobs created, as well as attracting companies, such as Pfizer, into the region.

Professor Richard B Davies, Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University, said: "This exciting new collaboration with Pfizer, one of the world’s largest research-based biopharmaceutical companies, is part of an intensified mission of mobilising the University’s resources in support of the NHS Wales, working closely with Health Boards and the Welsh Government."

Ben Hargreaves