Birmingham has been chosen as a base for the 海角视频's first Medicines Manufacturing Skills Centre of Excellence.
The new facility will use virtual reality to train in laboratory skills and support the NHS' goal of net zero.
The new initiative, known as Resilience, will address the skills shortage faced by the medicines manufacturing industry in the 海角视频 and the University of Birmingham will be one of the partners delivering the programme.
Funded by the Office for Life Sciences, part of the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, and managed through Innovate 海角视频, Resilience is a £4.5 million, two-year programme.
Sign up for your free West Midlands newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn
Email newsletters
BusinessLive is your home for business news from across the West Midlands including Birmingham, the Black Country, Solihull, Coventry and Staffordshire.
Click through here to sign up for our email newsletter and also view the broad range of other bulletins we offer including weekly sector-specific updates.
We will also send out 'Breaking News' emails for any stories which must be seen right away.
For all the latest stories, views and polls, follow our
Lord Patrick Vallance, the Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation, said: "With over £108 billion turnover, as a provider of over 300,000 jobs nationwide and as a source of treatments helping tackle some of the most debilitating diseases, the life sciences sector is one of the 海角视频's true industrial champions.
"Our medicines manufacturers' work is critical to the economic success and health of the nation. For them to keep being successful, it is imperative that we help them bridge the industry's skills gaps.
"This new centre of excellence will be an important part of those efforts, bringing industry, universities and the NHS together with schools and colleges to ignite the next generation of life sciences talent."
Most Read
Resilience will create and deliver new training courses for industry, the NHS and education providers, addressing key sector priorities, including digital technology, artificial intelligence, data analysis and environmental sustainability.
The Resilience partner organisations will deliver in-person and remote training courses in advanced laboratory and medicines manufacturing skills to schools, higher and further education colleges, universities and the NHS.
Ivan Wall is a professor at the University of Birmingham and a co-director of Resilience.
He added: "The use of VR technology will be central to the project, helping young people safely learn skills that it would be impractical to gain in the real world due to logistics and capacity.
"It will also help the NHS to meet its long-term goal of achieving net zero. 25 per cent of their emissions are in the supply chain and VR will help the industry deliver net-zero medicines manufacturing."
The Resilience STEM Outreach programme will produce curriculum-aligned materials and careers awareness events.
It aims to partner with 20 schools or colleges, providing them with an annual free loan of VR headsets as well as 150 schools, colleges, and FE centres across the 海角视频.