As part of the UK delegation at BIO 2026, Bidwells supported the presentation of the UK’s Connected Life Sciences Corridors that brought together the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor with Liverpool and Manchester in the North West. A proposition we jointly took to international companies, investors, economic development partners and life sciences organisations considering UK or European growth.
For Bidwells, it was also an opportunity to strengthen our international network and help connect overseas businesses and capital with the UK’s science and technology ecosystem.
Why connected corridors matter
The UK has no shortage of exceptional science, leading universities, clinical assets, talent and specialist companies. But when speaking to international audiences, the challenge is often one of clarity.
Companies looking to expand overseas do not want to navigate a fragmented map of disconnected opportunities. They want to understand where they can find the right science, the right people, the right clinical partnerships, the right infrastructure, and the right space to scale.
That is why the Connected Corridors proposition matters. Oxford to Cambridge, Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region are not competing offers. They are complementary parts of a broader UK life sciences platform.
Oxford to Cambridge brings deep discovery science, genomics, AI-enabled drug discovery, clinical trials and national research infrastructure. Greater Manchester brings clinical research, health data, real-world evidence, digital health and oncology. Liverpool City Region brings strengths in infection, vaccines, long-acting therapeutics, biologics, cell therapy innovation and biomanufacturing.
Together, these corridors create a route for international companies to discover, develop, manufacture and scale in the UK.
That proposition is supported by significant depth: more than 3,000 life sciences companies, around 25m sq ft of life sciences and R&D space, and a talent pipeline of around 150,000 graduates each year across the connected corridors.
What international companies need
The conversations at BIO reinforced a clear point, research excellence is essential, but it is not enough on its own. Companies making location decisions need access to clinical translation, health data, clinical trials, advanced therapies infrastructure, biomanufacturing capability, specialist talent, capital and room to grow. They also need simple routes into the ecosystem and advisers who can help them understand where their business will fit.
That is where the UK has a compelling story to tell, but also where the story needs to be made easier to navigate. The UK can offer discovery science, translational medicine, manufacturing capability and growth locations in close proximity. It can connect companies with universities, hospitals, investors, innovation districts and specialist real estate. It can support businesses from early-stage research through to clinical validation, manufacturing and global commercialisation.
But if that offer is presented as a series of separate places, it is harder for international companies to understand its full value. Presented as a connected pathway, it becomes much more powerful.
Bidwells’ role in the UK offer
Bidwells works at the intersection of science, technology, real estate and place. We advise many of the landowners, institutions, campuses and investors shaping the UK’s innovation economy, with a particularly deep role across the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor.
At BIO, our role was not simply to attend a major international conference. It was to support the UK delegation, build relationships with overseas businesses and investors, and help show how the UK’s places and campuses can support companies looking to locate, grow and scale.
It was particularly valuable to be in San Diego alongside important clients and partners from the Cambridge Biomedical Campus ecosystem, including Prologis and Cambridge University Health Partners, and to work with colleagues from Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester as part of a broader UK proposition.
For international companies, they first look for the innovation capability, then they need to find the right real estate to enable that growth to happen. The right space, in the right location, with the right infrastructure and connectivity, can influence access to talent, clinical partners, investors and collaborators.
What San Diego showed us
San Diego is a useful comparator for the UK because it demonstrates how life sciences growth depends on the close relationship between research institutions, specialist real estate, clinical translation, occupiers and investors.
As part of the UK delegation, Bidwells helped lead visits to several of San Diego’s leading life sciences real estate assets.
At UC San Diego Science Research Park, BioMed Realty’s Center for Novel Therapeutics provided a strong example of academic-industry-clinical translation. The 137,500 sq ft research hub is linked to UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center and designed to bring university investigators, clinical researchers, entrepreneurs and private-sector partners closer together. Its purpose is not just to provide laboratory space, but to help move science from the laboratory into the clinic and from campus into the market.
At Longfellow’s Bioterra in Sorrento Mesa, the delegation saw a major purpose-built Class A lab and office facility designed around flexibility, sustainability, amenity and scale-up. At approximately 323,000 sq ft, Bioterra shows how modern life sciences real estate is evolving. The offer is not just technical lab specification, but flexible floorplates, collaboration space, outdoor terraces, amenity, sustainability credentials and an environment designed to attract and retain talent.
At Breakthrough Properties’ Torrey Heights campus, the Future of Oncology event demonstrated another important feature of San Diego’s ecosystem: the ability to bring property, occupiers and the scientific community together. Torrey Heights is a high-specification life sciences campus close to Torrey Pines and Sorrento Valley, with major occupiers including Pfizer and BD. Hearing from speakers connected to Pfizer, Salk Institute, Scripps Research and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center underlined how closely the campus is connected into the wider innovation community.
The lesson for the UK
The UK has many of the ingredients that international life sciences companies need. It has outstanding science, deep clinical capability, globally recognised universities, major NHS assets, specialist manufacturing strengths and a growing network of innovation districts and campuses.
But to compete internationally, those ingredients need to be connected and made investable.
That means more than marketing the UK well. It means ensuring there is enough specialist space in the right locations. It means planning and infrastructure systems that can support growth. It means utilities, transport, housing and public realm that allow innovation districts to function as places. It means stronger links between universities, hospitals, investors, developers and occupiers. It also means ensuring international companies can quickly understand where to go, who to speak to, and how to build a long-term UK presence.
Turning the proposition into growth
The Connected Corridors proposition is an important step because it gives international companies a clearer way to understand the UK opportunity.
Oxford to Cambridge, Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region can together offer a powerful pathway across discovery, development, evidence generation, manufacturing and scale-up. But more needs to be done, when you see the scale and sophistication in the approach and soft landing that leading businesses are offered in ecosystems around the world, it is clear that the UK needs to do more.
We need a clearer joined up offer of our capability and specialism and greater connection between government and innovation districts across the UK. So that when businesses and investors think about the UK, the offer is clear, the engagement is compelling and their landing in the UK is well supported.
