1 00:00:05,510 --> 00:00:10,670 The first witness I've got is aimed initially at Nick, 2 00:00:10,670 --> 00:00:18,800 but also I think with Brian could pick up two as a company that appears to have already had a strong innovation culture even before COVID. 3 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:24,620 How did you refine or intensify these once you started responding to COVID? 4 00:00:24,620 --> 00:00:29,330 Yeah, that's a great question. I think there are two elements in that. 5 00:00:29,330 --> 00:00:37,980 One is actually bringing different resources from different parts of the company to a much greater extent than maybe what we did before, 6 00:00:37,980 --> 00:00:43,160 which really relied on the fusion of the sort of algorithm work with the clinical understanding. 7 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:48,920 I think that was critical in this. And then the second piece was really, I think, a very clear goal. 8 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:55,490 And typically, I think COVID focussed everybody's minds in terms of this has to be done incredibly quickly. 9 00:00:55,490 --> 00:01:02,330 Well, it's going to be a minimum viable product that you can put together working with clinicians and do that as rapidly as possible. 10 00:01:02,330 --> 00:01:07,310 And then I think generally people work very hard. So weekends, evenings. 11 00:01:07,310 --> 00:01:13,340 There was a massive amount of effort that went in outside of the work hours actually to deliver on time. 12 00:01:13,340 --> 00:01:20,060 So those were the elements I think that came through there. In some ways it was an intensification of what we were doing. 13 00:01:20,060 --> 00:01:26,390 Thanks. Thanks, Nick. And anything more on Brian or I've got another question for you. 14 00:01:26,390 --> 00:01:29,720 If you wanted to take it, wait for that now. 15 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:38,690 Just to just to build on that, I know internally. Kimberly Clark, it was, you know, we feel we're very innovative, but it did focus in certain areas. 16 00:01:38,690 --> 00:01:40,880 I mean, you only have so many resources, right? 17 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:51,880 So the the needs or the demands of, you know, the COVID response, we were able to focus a little bit more in the key areas. 18 00:01:51,880 --> 00:02:01,210 Thank you, sir. Next question aimed at Brian was the next issue, Fauci being globally important for opposition. 19 00:02:01,210 --> 00:02:07,170 I think it's I think it's the the the plastics issue. 20 00:02:07,170 --> 00:02:15,800 We've all seen it, the plastics in the ocean, the microplastics, I think that's something that we all need to be very concerned about. 21 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:21,110 Thank you. So the next question we've got is for both of you. 22 00:02:21,110 --> 00:02:25,940 So do you think the COVID urgency to find global solutions change the culture of 23 00:02:25,940 --> 00:02:30,930 collaboration and willingness to accelerate the process of innovation for the long term? 24 00:02:30,930 --> 00:02:39,410 You know, is it going to make a permanent difference? It's going to get fast and archaic in here. 25 00:02:39,410 --> 00:02:46,100 This is going to be a wait and see. It's like we all played very well together here in the in the near term. 26 00:02:46,100 --> 00:02:51,140 And but but I do think it's and I've heard this through through some leadership internally, 27 00:02:51,140 --> 00:02:59,900 I think it has kind of opened the door is it's a different way of thinking of, you know, we need to tackle these problems together. 28 00:02:59,900 --> 00:03:03,350 And I think you've seen some of in some of the new forms that are starting to form 29 00:03:03,350 --> 00:03:08,570 out there and for these different problem areas like these special workforces. 30 00:03:08,570 --> 00:03:15,710 So I'm optimistic that we're we're moving in in the right direction. 31 00:03:15,710 --> 00:03:24,110 Yeah. I mean, I would say two elements trust and transparency with the things that came out of closer collaboration. 32 00:03:24,110 --> 00:03:31,910 So in the case of the sign of the ICU specialist was leaving the ward coming to talk to us for 20 minutes, 33 00:03:31,910 --> 00:03:37,310 going back into the ward, coming out six hours later to have another conversation with us. 34 00:03:37,310 --> 00:03:41,600 So there was a deep commitment on both sides, which I think was incredible. 35 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,590 I think like Brian's sustaining that outside of that is hard. 36 00:03:45,590 --> 00:03:53,510 But you do have a bedrock of having worked together in that relationship, and that's been sort of forged in a much more potent environment. 37 00:03:53,510 --> 00:04:01,050 So I think that keeps you in good stead as working partners and building deeper relationships to me, I see as being critical. 38 00:04:01,050 --> 00:04:07,970 And I think really to kind of to build on that, it's like what I said before, there's no winners or losers. 39 00:04:07,970 --> 00:04:17,360 We're all going to lose, right? So if we don't collaborate to help solve the problem, there's really not a winner if it's all for nothing. 40 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:26,360 Thank you. So I've got a question, if I may interject, is so you both touched in your talks about the conversations that you had, 41 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:35,090 the collaborations that you had with the universities. And I'd just be interested to know, you know, again, you both touched on how they changed. 42 00:04:35,090 --> 00:04:50,400 And is there anything in the way that that those relationships changed or developed again that you'd like to preserve in a post-crisis? 43 00:04:50,400 --> 00:05:00,660 I think from our point of view, Phil, I think it comes down to alignment of objectives is critical. 44 00:05:00,660 --> 00:05:10,380 And I think particularly in university industry partnerships, it's finding that sweet spot of the alignment of objectives, that's important. 45 00:05:10,380 --> 00:05:16,290 I think there are different requirements from a university perspective in terms of commercial return versus a company. 46 00:05:16,290 --> 00:05:20,160 And those are elements that I think, you know, to some extent remain challenging. 47 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:26,910 I think in the COVID environment, those kind of merged into something in the background in terms of what could be done. 48 00:05:26,910 --> 00:05:37,020 So for me, I think it's keeping being able to work at pace across the complexities of a university or a corporate organisation. 49 00:05:37,020 --> 00:05:44,750 And that to me then comes down to both sides having a clearer understanding of what the constraints and the requirements that both have. 50 00:05:44,750 --> 00:05:53,080 And I think it's help that, but I think those types of dialogues need to carry on to make sure that the momentum continues. 51 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:59,190 I would agree with that and kind of build on that, it's some from a kind of a scientist's perspective. 52 00:05:59,190 --> 00:06:02,610 It's almost like, you know, you get a couple of scientists in a room, you know, 53 00:06:02,610 --> 00:06:07,680 once somebody from academia and one person from industry, we kind of know what we want to do. 54 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:13,650 But you know, the way we work with dictators, OK, we got to get legal in the loop. 55 00:06:13,650 --> 00:06:18,450 We have to get the agreement. And that's typically when everything comes to a grinding halt. 56 00:06:18,450 --> 00:06:28,710 Right. So I think that I think the trust and we can and the issue we had, we can move much faster. 57 00:06:28,710 --> 00:06:37,080 Right. Because there was that trust and and so I hope that we can kind of continue that moving forward. 58 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:42,930 Thank you. So I was going to also ask the same question about the relationship with government, 59 00:06:42,930 --> 00:06:49,740 but will part about because the questions are flooding in now and a kind of international government related question, I suppose. 60 00:06:49,740 --> 00:06:58,960 So question for both of you, which nation should be developing closer collaborative ties with in the midterm? 61 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:05,950 Well, that's a great question, I can answer that from the perspective of data and health as opposed to the lens I 62 00:07:05,950 --> 00:07:10,810 look at it through and I'd say that we already have very strong ties into the U.S., 63 00:07:10,810 --> 00:07:14,530 so the transatlantic collaboration is very strong. 64 00:07:14,530 --> 00:07:21,610 The challenge in the sort of analytics data piece as you go eastwards is that different information governance frameworks. 65 00:07:21,610 --> 00:07:26,230 And that presents different challenges in terms of how you access and work with data. 66 00:07:26,230 --> 00:07:32,860 So you can see countries like Singapore, which have a very advanced analytics capabilities and data types. 67 00:07:32,860 --> 00:07:40,540 Those are countries you can partner with. Others where the health care systems are more fragmented, present different sorts of challenges. 68 00:07:40,540 --> 00:07:45,280 And actually, you have to put in a huge amount of work actually to change that. 69 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:54,280 Thank you. Yeah, from my perspective, like I said before, we have a global footprint, so we kind of work across. 70 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:59,740 You know, Asia, Europe, we kind of work all across the globe. 71 00:07:59,740 --> 00:08:07,630 I wouldn't say one part is any more important to keep a couple of related questions on competition. 72 00:08:07,630 --> 00:08:12,230 Would you say this would also apply to the East-West relationships, you know, 73 00:08:12,230 --> 00:08:17,710 or I think you've answered the question was it more transatlantic and has the pandemic improved? 74 00:08:17,710 --> 00:08:23,270 The chances of East-West innovation collaborations will polarise them. 75 00:08:23,270 --> 00:08:30,170 Or are you saying that they're there already? I would say politically it was more polarised. 76 00:08:30,170 --> 00:08:36,690 But but I think that there probably was better or more exchange of information. 77 00:08:36,690 --> 00:08:41,310 Okay. So switch of tack from the questions now. 78 00:08:41,310 --> 00:08:47,880 Remote working, which we're still doing now, how did remote working affect your ability to be able to innovate? 79 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:51,940 What was good about it and where were the challenges? 80 00:08:51,940 --> 00:09:03,820 For for for me personally, this probably goes back to last April or May after the shut down after we put the the the protocols in place. 81 00:09:03,820 --> 00:09:10,810 We never really shut down a lot of our key innovation programmes because remember, our production facilities never shut down. 82 00:09:10,810 --> 00:09:14,530 I mean, there was all the COVID precautions of wearing face masks. 83 00:09:14,530 --> 00:09:18,070 Take the temperature, you know, signing the declaration and things like that. 84 00:09:18,070 --> 00:09:24,190 So we kind of did the same thing in our in our pilot facilities so we could continue to do the do the innovation. 85 00:09:24,190 --> 00:09:28,730 And then, like all of us, you know, we were, you know, Skype, Zoom or whatever. 86 00:09:28,730 --> 00:09:36,310 And in some ways, the information exchange was probably more efficient in terms of meetings and 87 00:09:36,310 --> 00:09:39,970 whatnot because you didn't have as many sidebar conversations and stuff like that. 88 00:09:39,970 --> 00:09:45,670 The one piece that we miss was kind of that spontaneity of meeting a colleague at 89 00:09:45,670 --> 00:09:49,300 the coffee machine and you talk about things that just kind of randomly happen. 90 00:09:49,300 --> 00:09:58,520 And then, boom, you have an idea that was the piece that I think everyone is is missing the tactical aspects of having meetings and things like that. 91 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:07,000 That's good. Another thing is for some of us that commute, you picked up that commute time that you could actually work or do some things, 92 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:11,650 you probably actually put more time into work. Yeah, I'd agree with everything. 93 00:10:11,650 --> 00:10:17,440 Brian says that any additional I would make is sometimes I miss that sort of white boarding and brainstorming, 94 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:22,620 which you can do on teams, but face to face, there's a different quality to it. 95 00:10:22,620 --> 00:10:25,720 That kind of is what I missed. 96 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:36,070 In addition to the relationship and partnership building with like suppliers and things like that missed that opportunity as well. 97 00:10:36,070 --> 00:10:41,800 Yeah. So the question for both of you again, 98 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:48,760 what do these evolutions mean to intellectual property and competition for the future as far as both of you concerned? 99 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:55,700 I think it's building on that kind of a competition question that we had before. 100 00:10:55,700 --> 00:10:59,590 I mean, I'll have a crack at this, I mean, I think it's a really interesting question. 101 00:10:59,590 --> 00:11:03,830 And I know Oxford, through Structural Genomics Consortium and other groups, 102 00:11:03,830 --> 00:11:11,300 has done a lot of work about what you can do in the competitive environment. I think COVID has shown that you could do much more of that. 103 00:11:11,300 --> 00:11:16,820 But I think at the same time, you've got to be clear about the downstream point where the commercial or the IPS 104 00:11:16,820 --> 00:11:22,550 comes into play that I think that needs more thinking and that will vary by industry, 105 00:11:22,550 --> 00:11:30,650 by opportunity of what you're looking at. So there are those two intentions, and I look at it to say the world of data, you know, 106 00:11:30,650 --> 00:11:38,000 you can say Data's pretty competitive to some extent, but there are different tension downstream of that how you define the IP. 107 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:43,670 So I don't think there's any straight answer that just gives you the panacea of what that should look like. 108 00:11:43,670 --> 00:11:52,600 It's very much on a case by case basis. I agree it's going to be case by case, I think an excellent example this is Volvo. 109 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:59,520 You know, they're known for, you know, patenting the three point harness. And they just gave it to the complete the whole industry. 110 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:01,360 Mean it was a safety thing, right? 111 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:12,130 So if there's a key innovation out there that would combat COVID or would fix the ocean plastics issue and things like that, 112 00:12:12,130 --> 00:12:16,120 I think there's, you know, something like that should be shared. 113 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:23,480 We could drive it quicker. And I think there's enough opportunity there that everyone can can benefit. 114 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:29,030 And Q, So we're down to some rapid fire questions now because we've got about five minutes left, 115 00:12:29,030 --> 00:12:35,600 so what how do you maintain the pace and intensity of innovation in other areas? 116 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:41,710 Wants the urgency of the pandemic wanes? 117 00:12:41,710 --> 00:12:52,330 I think you've got to do that through very focussed management and ongoing prioritisation as a small company, we are able to shift quite quickly. 118 00:12:52,330 --> 00:12:56,440 But you've got to keep very much your eye on the pulse of business as usual. 119 00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:58,630 And that was a challenge that we had during COVID, 120 00:12:58,630 --> 00:13:05,170 but that was something we emphasised internally and culturally saying You've still got to do that and you have to work harder. 121 00:13:05,170 --> 00:13:10,740 I would say during these situations to maintain that. 122 00:13:10,740 --> 00:13:14,160 Kind of being a scientist, I'm always the optimist, anything's possible, right? 123 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:17,250 So when I think about what we did, 124 00:13:17,250 --> 00:13:25,380 what this world did in combating COVID is is quite remarkable in terms of the vaccines and all that in the way I look at it, 125 00:13:25,380 --> 00:13:29,490 it's like, Well, now we're going to shift our attention towards the next big problem, 126 00:13:29,490 --> 00:13:33,810 which could be, you know, energy or it could be the ocean plastic crisis. 127 00:13:33,810 --> 00:13:41,100 So I get I have faith that if we apply the same energy and tactics that we use 128 00:13:41,100 --> 00:13:45,180 towards COVID towards these other big global problems that impact all of us, 129 00:13:45,180 --> 00:13:57,060 we can get solutions. Thank you, so one questioner wanted to know what questions, Nic, would you ask Brian and vice versa? 130 00:13:57,060 --> 00:14:03,610 So I asked Ron because raising the question around the plastics crisis, how would you approach that? 131 00:14:03,610 --> 00:14:07,410 Because I think you're exactly right on that. That's a major, major crisis. 132 00:14:07,410 --> 00:14:11,550 Do you have any thoughts what you how you'd approach that? 133 00:14:11,550 --> 00:14:18,330 I think it's I think right now, if you look across the whole industry, everybody's kind of in their camps. 134 00:14:18,330 --> 00:14:24,360 Yeah, we kind of know what people are doing, but I think we need to kind of get it. 135 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:32,360 We need to drop the veil, drop the silos and work more closely together on the real issues. 136 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:39,210 And I think most of the scientists would love to get in a room and talk about it. But we kind of have the corporate standard work of how we work. 137 00:14:39,210 --> 00:14:44,130 That kind of prevents that in my in. 138 00:14:44,130 --> 00:14:55,920 My question to Nick would be really and I think you hit on it was is how do you tap into big data like A.I. to help drive things more quickly? 139 00:14:55,920 --> 00:15:01,770 That's a great question. It takes a lot of time and a lot of close partnership working with health care system. 140 00:15:01,770 --> 00:15:09,900 So you have to talk to the clinicians, the IT people. You have to understand where the data sits, how you puree to extract, anonymize it. 141 00:15:09,900 --> 00:15:16,150 And that requires what I call a lot of heavy lifting, and no two health care systems are the same. 142 00:15:16,150 --> 00:15:27,300 So you have to be resilient and adaptable and have a close working relationship to understand how the data sets and how you can work with it. 143 00:15:27,300 --> 00:15:37,210 Thank you. So last question in the last minute. So question for both of you how much work your companies doing on the sustainability of your products? 144 00:15:37,210 --> 00:15:42,280 You can go to our Web site and we've got a 2030 vision. 145 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:46,080 We got the tiniest footprint campaign actually over in the UK. 146 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:51,880 You can you can check us out on the internet, but there's a lot going on in that area. 147 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:59,530 Yeah, I think on our side fell. We're sort of focussing on the product to support the ongoing product development. 148 00:15:59,530 --> 00:16:06,880 And then what I would say is keeping the innovation going, which is then aligned with one of the store's sustainability outputs. 149 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:13,330 What can we contribute that is beneficial within the environment and within the sort of working practises? 150 00:16:13,330 --> 00:16:20,420 And that's something we're emerging and building, but we're still a young company on that journey. 151 00:16:20,420 --> 00:16:21,290 Thank you. 152 00:16:21,290 --> 00:16:31,850 Well, thank you both for a brilliant session to brilliant presentations and contrasting examples and the great Q&A, so I really appreciate that. 153 00:16:31,850 --> 00:16:41,002 So what you've done is given us some really good food for thought.