0 Have your say David Lee examines why it can be so difficult to turn knowledge into economic growth The ability to derive commercial advantage from innovation excellence has been a long-standing challenge for the life sciences sector in Scotland. All major breakthroughs are based on innovation and great ideas, but how do we harness that intellectual and innovation capital effectively, to turn it into direct economic benefit?Dave Tudor, co-chairman of the Life Sciences Scotland Industry Leadership Group (ILG), says: “We are creating more intellectual property per head in Scotland than anywhere, but we see companies buying that innovation from Scotland and making things elsewhere. “We need to commercialise more of that innovation in Scotland and do more manufacturing here. “About £800 million of the £4.2 billion sector turnover comes from manufacturing and we need to increase that to maximise the benefits of innovation.”Professor Sir Pete … [Read more...] about Why research alone isn’t enough for the life sciences sector
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Video: Scotland’s Life Sciences sector in numbers
0 Have your say Scotland is a hotbed of innovation and investment opportunity for more than 700 Life Sciences companies in a sector moving from strength to strength. The numbers underpinning Scotland’s Life Sciences community tell an interesting story of the sector’s progress through the last decade, and continue to grow year on year.Scotland’s Life Sciences sector employs some 37,000 people across more than 700 organisations.As a growing sector with a steady investment stream from the Scottish Government and the Scottish Investment Bank, it’s little wonder Life Sciences has grown from strength to strength in the past few years.In fact, 30% of funding from the Scottish Investment Bank is tied up in Life Sciences and six innovation centres across the country have a core funding of around £100million.Life Sciences companies contribute £2billion to the Scottish economy, but a long-term plan has lofty ambitions of quadrupling that value to … [Read more...] about Video: Scotland’s Life Sciences sector in numbers
Video: Five of Scotland’s most innovative Life Sciences companies
0 Have your say Half of all Scottish Life Science companies are meditech and pharma organisations, but innovation stretches as far as cloud computing and DNA sequencing. Scotland has gained a reputation of being an incubator of innovation and advancement in the life sciences sector.We continue to produce cutting-edge research from more than 700 organisations who have chosen to call Scotland home.Many work with a unified health service, embracing innovation and encouraging active networking with business interests, all in the name of progress.We’ve selected just a handful of such companies to shine a light on the meaningful Scottish organisations are doing.Caldan Therapeutics is one such company, working with free fatty acid receptors in an effort to better understand and potentially treat Type 2 Diabetes.Aridhia on the other hand, are working to perfect cloud-based software to assist medical research and precision medicine.Watch the video above to get just a taste of … [Read more...] about Video: Five of Scotland’s most innovative Life Sciences companies
How to invest in Scotland’s life sciences sector
0 Have your say Scotland’s burgeoning life sciences sector is attracting more and more inward investment, as Scottish Government figures show that more than 37,000 people are employed in the industry, establishing the country as one of the largest clusters in Europe. Whether investing alone or as part of a consortium or ‘Angel’ syndicate, there are countless opportunities to get involved in this burgeoning industry.The Scotsman has been working with Innovation Funding Consultants Leyton to bring you information on this growing sector.We spoke to several industry experts to try and get a feel for how, and most importantly why, investing in life sciences is both popular and foresighted.Firstly, we discussed with Steve Ewing of Informatics Ventures how he has seen the growth in life sciences affect the partnership he makes between investors and early stage companies, particularly in their Engage Invest Expliot programme.He told the Scotsman: “Informatics … [Read more...] about How to invest in Scotland’s life sciences sector
Best science books for kids
To keep this world ticking round and to prevent it from combusting any time in the near future, we need to breed a load of future scientists. As it's World Space Week, we’ve found some of the best books for making the sciences accessible to children, hopefully helping to pave the way for a future passion that might just save us all… Big Questions From Little People by Gemma Elwin Harris If you’ve ever found yourself in the black hole of a ‘but whyyy?’ conversation with a small child, you’ll know it’s like banging your head against a rather unforgiving brick wall and, chances are, you would’ve done anything to get out of it. Clearly Gemma Elwin Harris has experienced several such moments and has, thankfully, written a book to prevent them from happening ever again. Addressing seemingly unfathomable questions such as, ‘why is the sea salty?’ and ‘why can’t animals talk like us?’ she calls upon some of the … [Read more...] about Best science books for kids