Despite facing legacy challenges brought by the pandemic, Glasgow is set to grow stronger through academic excellence and inward investment, according to the chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.
Stuart Patrick pointed to the recent Research Excellence Framework (REF) results. Carried out by the four UK higher education funding bodies, REF assesses the quality of research in the UK’s universities.
“All three of Glasgow’s universities increased their rankings,” Mr Patrick. “That could be very good news for growing the flow of money going into their academic research.”
Mr Patrick also found very encouraging the progress made in response to the UK’s designation of Glasgow as one of three innovation accelerators alongside the cities of Manchester and Birmingham.
“There’s £100 million of levelling-up funding to share between the three cities, aiming to increase business investment in R&D (research and development).
“Companies in Glasgow are now working alongside the council and both Glasgow and Strathclyde universities with a new innovation partnership.
“This is developing a set of fresh research projects that will match UK Government funding with at least twice as much private investment.”
Mr Patrick also pointed out Glasgow’s night-time economy has been returning strongly, however there are sustainability concerns.
“Given the restructuring of ScotRail schedules, the loss of a third of the city’s taxi drivers and the continual incidents of antisocial behaviour, we have a lot of work to do alongside the new council administration to help Glasgow’s city centre fully recover.”
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