ABSTRACT
When considering the social environment in which the life sciences industry sector operates, it helps to appreciate a distinctive characteristic of the sector, namely its multiple, varied and very strong connections to society as a whole. Whilst all industries operate within their societal context, our sector is especially strongly connected to society by both institutional systems (such as laws, regulations and state-funded healthcare) and by non-institutional factors (such as demographics, social attitudes and lifestyle trends). Many other sectors share some of these connections but none are so tightly woven into their societal context as is the life sciences industry. Like the life sciences sector, the fi nancial services sector is highly regulated; and some others, such as the arms industry and the civil engineering sector, count governments as their major customer. Others, such as the construction industry and
the fashion sector are, like life sciences, infl uenced heavily by the demands that fl ow from lifestyle and demographics. But it is hard to think of another industry that is so closely connected to its societal base in so many ways. Our sector is connected to society by regulation, government customers and the impact of lifestyle and demographics, as well as many other societal factors, such as wealth distribution and globalisation. Just as importantly, we are connected to society by our links to academic, healthcare and other societally-embedded systems. And each of these connections is bidirectional; our industry helps societies age, supports academic research, enables healthcare system design, shapes regulation and infl uences lifestyles. In return, each of those aspects of society infl uences the industry more or less directly. These bilateral links, and the way they interconnect into a complex web, mean that, perhaps more than any other, this industry both shapes and is shaped by society.
