Dundee’s life sciences sector has been given a major boost thanks to a six-figure grant that will be used to forge new links between research and business.
The universities of Dundee and Abertay, Dundee City Council’s BioDundee project and the James Hutton Institute formerly the Scottish Crop Research Institute will share the £1,015,000 funding awarded by the Lowland and Upland Scotland Objective 2 European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Scottish Government’s SEEKIT programme.
The money will help fund the Innovation Portal based at Dundee University and BioDundee, which works to promote the life sciences and biotechnology sectors in the city.
It will also help fund a new project called the BioPortal, which will match research institutes with appropriate businesses in Tayside’s biotechnology sector.
The BioPortal project has been designed and developed by Research and Innovation Services at Dundee University to remove barriers that can prevent businesses from capitalising on new academic discoveries.
Barriers include the element of risk associated with technology development, the financial, human and skills shortages often experienced by small to medium-sized enterprises and the ability to identify and access novel technologies which can be difficult for many small firms.
“We are delighted with these awards of funding from ERDF and SEEKIT,” said Diane Taylor, director of research and innovation services at the university and chairman of the Portal Steering Group.
“It allows us to continue the good work of the Innovation Portal and BioDundee whilst also provide further focus on our excellence in life sciences at Dundee.”
“Developing our portal business model in this way demonstrates our commitment and ability to positively engage with the Scottish SME sector.”
The project aims to increase the ease of access by small to medium-sized enterprises to the intellectual properties developed by research institutes in Dundee.
The project will also make it easier for postdoctoral researchers to move from academia to industry, generating a skilled workforce and retaining it in Scotland.
It is being delivered by the Innovation Portal at Dundee University Incubator and BioDundee through a partnership agreement which covers three years.
Over that time Dundee, and Tayside, will benefit from an increase in sector-specific training programmes, workshops and networking events as well as the revival of Scotland’s leading life science newsletter the BioDundee Update.