09 Mar STEM for Britain Sponsors

The Stem for Britain programme is one of the most exciting platforms for the development and discovery of young talent in the  disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and we salute each of you as participants, finalists, award winners and future ‘game changers’!

The timing of the STEM for Britain awards is also clearly, not a coincidence; sandwiched between two key global celebrations of diversity: International Women’s Day and Commonwealth Day [54 member countries]. Judging by the audience today and the results of the competition, STEM for Britain has certainly been successful in achieving gender balance, it is nurturing not only UK talent but is also contributing to a global pool of talent. Congratulations to the STEM Organising Committee and to the British government who are supporting the development of UK PLC through this and other innovative platforms.

Chemistry is an Interdisciplinary Science with the propensity to develop vital technological and   healthcare applications. Science, technology and chemistry are at the heart of what we do as an innovative British BioPharmaceutical Company where we are developing novel, personalised wound healing technologies that harness the body’s inherent ability to heal itself.

We translate science and technology into clinical application and for that, we require talented scientists and clinicians on our team. In fact, I am delighted to share with you, that one of our team is a past winner of the Chemistry Category, Dr Thao Nguyen.

A key area of our focus is the treatment of complex wounds such as diabetic ulcers. There are 3.5m people in the UK diagnosed with diabetes and 1in 4 diabetic patients will suffer from a diabetic ulcer in their lifetime. Diabetes is a global health challenge and the WHO states that “every 30 seconds, a lower limb is lost to the disease somewhere in the world.” Our NHS spends over £5.3bn treating 2.2m chronic complex wounds and the treatment of diabetic wounds in particular, costs the NHS over nearly £1bn. This excludes the significant social and psychological burdens associated with these debilitating wounds.

As proud sponsor of this Category, we acknowledge the importance of chemistry to society and as a company we recognise how important it is to nurture talent and provide the opportunities and training in developing ground-breaking technologies that will make a significant difference to society. The diverse applications of chemistry are evolving and expanding at pace and you have chosen a discipline that generates astounding inventions and innovation.

In closing, I encourage you to draw inspiration from those around us and build upon the examples and foundations laid by great chemists such as Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin, Frances Arnold [Chemistry Nobel winner 2018- evolution of peptides] John Goodenough, Stanley Wittingham, Akita Yoshino- [for the development of lithium-ion batteries”]  whom have contributed much to our learning.

I challenge you to be bold, seek the truth and forge new frontiers, challenge convention, embrace curiosity, seek solutions for the challenges we are faced with and don’t take no for an answer! As talented young scientists, you have a duty to society to make a real difference to our interconnected world.

Janet Hadfield CEO