Entrepreneur Jim Mellon has called on the island to forge an alliance with a university, preferably in the United States, to boost our profile in the growing biomed industry.
Mr Mellon said that the island faces strong competition from the rest of the world in attracting ‘biopharma’ based businesses.
And he believes some sort of an academic link-up would give a strong fillip in the battle for business.
He said: ‘The Isle of Man should look to an alliance with a university in the United States.
The island, with its tax advantages should be ‘actively seeking’ a link up with a university which is strongly grounded in bioscience, he believes.
‘The University of Wisconsin is one I could provide as an example.’
He said the island is very business friendly and the government is highly adaptable.
He said the island had a history of attracting new industry here and seizing opportunities.
For instance his own plane was the first to be registered by the island’s air registry which has since grown and grown to more than 700 registrations, he said
There was an understanding of opportunities and of innovation here.
Mr Mellon, who has an island home, and is regularly featured in the Sunday Times Rich List, was giving the keynote address at the island’s inaugural biomed business conference at the Claremont Hotel, Douglas.
More than 100 delegates from around the world attended the event aimed at raising the island’s profile within this multi-billion pound industry.
He said: ‘The Isle of Man will find a way.
‘However there are some negatives. Lots of other countries in the world including Europe, the UK, Malta, Luxembourg, for example have worked out that bioscience is the industry of the future.’
He said that much of the growth was due to the industry in other countries being linked to academia.
‘In the Isle of Man we don’t have that academic capability as yet.
‘So my recommendation is that the island should look to an alliance with a university in the United States.’
Leading investment expert Mr Mellon has written a best-selling book called Cracking The Code - Understand and Profit from the Biotech Revolution.
He believes there are unparalleled opportunities for investors from the growing biomed industry.
He is now backing biotech - particularly telemedicine and medical devices - as the next major growth area.
His book portrays the bio-pharma industry as ‘the greatest single opportunity in the world today’.
Mr Mellon told theb conference: ‘We live in exciting times and the Isle of Man has always embraced new opportunities.’
He revealed that over the next few months he plans to base two bioscience based companies in the island.
The island is already home to around a dozen expanding biomed companies selling products and services around the world. The Isle of Man is targeting this sector as part of its contining strategy to diversify its economy.
John Shimmin, Economic Development Minister, told the audience that ‘many investors are looking to find solutions to problems that have affected their loved ones.’
He said it was a ‘worthy, beneficial and exciting’ industry for people to be involved in.
Courtenay Heading, co-founder of the Manx BioMed Cluster said it was the perfect opportunity to sell the island as the ideal location for biomed companies.
The conference heard brief presentations from a number of biomed and healthcare businesses looking to move to the Isle of Man and seeking investment for their enterprises.
These included Aqix Ltd UK which is involved in the bio preservation market.
The company says that current products on the market are only able to keep donor organs/tissue biopsies and therapeutic cells preserved and viable to up to 24 hours.
Company founder Dr Douglas Rees explained that the company has developed a product known as AQIX RS-I which gives up to 72 hours of storage/transport time for all types of human tissues and rogans, adding a further 48 hours more transport time to enable delivery to international destinations.
Renowned neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield later addressed the conference on the impact of modern technology on the human brain.
Organisers were delighted with the calibre of speakers.