It establishes a partnership between medical research facilities in London, Cambridge and Oxford.

MedCity, a partnership between UCLPartners, King’s Health Partners, Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre, Oxford University, Cambridge University and the Greater London Authority, launches as a project to­ establish London and the Greater South East as a cluster for life sciences.

MedCity is funded by £2.92m ($4.89m) from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and £1.2m ($2m) from the Mayor of London’s Office.

Launched at the Imanova facility, the event was attended by a panel including Professor Jonathan Weber, vice dean of medicine at Imperial, Lara Flynn, vice-president of Circassia, an Imperial spin-out valued at more than £500m ($838m), and Boris Johnson, the current London mayor. Imanova, a centre for imaging science, is already an established place of collaboration, as it is an alliance between the Medical Research Council, Imperial College London, King’s College London and University College London.

Professor Dermot Kelleher, vice-president (Health) at Imperial College London, said: “Our unique combination of great universities and first-class research hospitals, dovetailed with access to a critical mass of entrepreneurial talent and a diverse population, puts the capital at the heart of medical discovery and its application. MedCity will allow us to intensify efforts to turn medical innovations into patient benefits and economic value on a national and international scale. This collaboration will lay the foundations for the next generation of medical advances while helping secure the capital’s long-term growth. London is powering ahead to a healthier and wealthier future.”