A proposal to boost a “bio-revolution” in the Central Belt is one of four Scottish bids shortlisted for a share of a £236 million economic growth fund.
The University of Strathclyde-led project plans to boost Scotland’s Industrial Biotechnology sector by fast-tracking the pathway from research to commercial deployment of biology-based products and platforms.
As a shortlisted project, it will receive support by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to develop a case for up to £50m of investment through its UK-wide Strength in Places Fund, in partnership with the Scottish Funding
Council (SFC). The bids will be considered before the end of this year.
If successful, the project will see the creation of a centre of excellence for engineering biology, with an incubator to support new companies, extending and enhancing the bioprocess technology scale-up facilities provided by the SFC-funded Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC), in addition to an industry partnership and skills hub to enable companies to collaborate with other UK centres of excellence, and to access skills training.
Examples of industrial biotechnology – the use of biological materials to produce or process materials – include the processing of plants to produce biofuels or plastics as an alternative to crude oil, algae strains used in cosmetics
or chemicals extracted from marine life to replace synthetics.
As an area of research, it is ideally suited to Scotland’s natural resources and infrastructure assets Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Principal & Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde, said: “Industrial biotechnology has enormous promise in the development of new approaches to medicines development, agriculture, marine and industrial sectors such as food and textiles.
“This announcement underlines the importance of Scotland’s burgeoning biotechnology sector to the economy. We are particularly proud to host IBioIC at Strathclyde, in the heart of the Glasgow City Innovation District and pleased to be working with our partners across Scotland to take our proposals to the next level.”
Dr Stuart Fancey, SFC Director of Research and Innovation, said: “Competition to be shortlisted was incredibly fierce and there had to be strong evidence that the projects would have a positive impact on their regions.
Scotland has world-leading research in each of its 19 universities and exciting business opportunities to build on, so Scottish-based bids were strong contenders in the process.
“I am delighted to see these projects making it through to the final stage. SFC will continue to work hard to support them and I look forward to further good news towards the end of the year.”
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