Healthy living
Our nation’s health, our planet’s health…
Health and wellbeing are at the heart of a prosperous and sustainable nation, and High Value Manufacturing Catapult’s Healthy Living priorities support public health and food security.
Building on the UK’s leading position in life sciences and biotechnology, we help develop innovative solutions to manufacturing processes in pharmaceuticals, health technology, food and drink and agricultural technology.
Life sciences are one of the eight growth areas identified in the UK government’s Modern Industrial Strategy. The Life Sciences Sector Plan states that the sector is worth around £100 billion to the economy and employs around 300,000 people.
The power of engineering biology
We are pushing the boundaries of possibilities using natural and engineered biological systems, such as micro-organisms and cell cultures to produce biomaterials.
Bio-manufactured products are game changing and have a wide variety of uses, including development of vaccines, medical diagnostics and foodstuffs.
High Value Manufacturing Catapult operates flagship facilities for scaling bioprocesses including CPI’s National Industrial Biotechnology Facility and National Biologics Manufacturing Centre. Find out more here.
Our priority areas
Pharmaceuticals
The UK pharma market is around 3% of the global market with an annual turnover of £46.7 billion in 2021 and the UK is one of the top five countries in this area.
We are developing innovative approaches to development and manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and looking at approaches to decarbonise the industry.
Our work in 2025-26 includes development of “always on” and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facilities for work of critical national importance, novel therapeutics and vaccines, and development of new skills for the sector.
HealthTech
Technology is playing an ever-increasing role in improving the services of healthcare providers including and it is fundamental to NHS reform by improving patient outcomes, increasing efficiency and reducing costs.
There are a wide range of benefits, including earlier diagnosis and increased precision in surgical procedures to promoting sickness prevention by helping patients adopt healthier lifestyles.
Our Healthtech sector is a major contributor to the national economy, with an annual turnover of around £34 billion and employment for 150,000 people.
In 2025-26, we will be developing medical devices, wearables and diagnostics, and improved HealthTech products and services.
AgriTech
Food security is a major factor in national resilience and agriculture is a vitally important industry in the UK. In 2023, the sector employed around 460,000 people and contributed £13.7 billion to the UK economy (Defra).
But plant disease, pests and labour shortages threaten output and productivity.
Technology advancements provide agriculture with a major opportunity to scale up and improve efficiency to optimise quality and yield.
Our work in 2025-26 will cover automation and digitalisation of processes, plus sustainable agri-inputs and bio-fertilisers.
Food and Drink
Food production is a vital sector for UK resilience and there are a wealth of opportunities for innovation.
It is the largest of the UK’s manufacturing sectors, employing more than 475,000 people and contributing £38 billion to the UK economy annually.
The Office for National Statistics states that in 2022, 98.8% of all food and drink manufacturing businesses were SMEs, around 22,800 in total.
Our emphasis for 2025-26 is to enable the adoption of innovation across the food and drink supply chain, and drive skills development which will support increased digitalisation and automation. We will look at novel foods and sustainable processes.