News
Scottish Government launches life sciences strategy with £25bn ambition
The Scottish Government has launched a life sciences strategy in a bid to push the industry's value to £25 billion in the next decade.
Business minister Richard Lochhead announced "targeted" investment in the sector on Thursday which the Government has said will focus on economic growth, innovation and transform care.
Source: Business Insider
Growing a £25 billion industry
A new plan to help Scotland’s Life Sciences sector become a £25 billion industry by 2035 has been published.
The Scottish Government’s refreshed Life Sciences Strategy sets out steps to build the infrastructure and skills needed while harnessing new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.
£125,000 Microfinance Fund launched to boost Scotland’s academic innovation pipeline
The Scottish Government and Converge have today joined forces to launch a new £125,000 Microfinance Fund aimed at accelerating Scotland’s pipeline of academic start-ups.
Designed to help students, graduates and university staff take that all important first step towards starting a business, the new initiative will allocate £5,000 to each of Scotland’s 19 universities with grants distributed through university channels.
Tech top of agenda for deputy first minister on Canada trade visit
The tech sector will be top of the agenda for a forthcoming trade visit by deputy first minister Kate Forbes to Canada – which she hopes will encourage investment into Scotland. Forbes jets to Toronto and Nova Scotia today where she will meet banks and assets managers – with a focus on getting more investment into Scotland through key sectors such as digital technology, fintech, renewables and clean energy.
Source: FUTURESCOT
Ministers welcome new loans that will ‘kickstart’ business innovation
Ministers have welcomed plans by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for a new type of loan for high-growth businesses, saying it will help “kickstart” business innovation in Scotland.
From next year, Scottish firms will be able to secure borrowing against the value of their intellectual property (IP), instead of traditional assets such as buildings and machinery.
Source: STV
Senior UK government figures get behind Scotland’s Global Investment Summit
Four senior UK government minister will be attending Scotland’s Global Investment Summit in Edinburgh this week, hosted by Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE) and the Lord Mayor of London.
Source: Scottish Financial News
Scottish company data platform launched to drive investment
An open access platform of information on start-ups, scale-ups and established private companies in Scotland has been launched.
Developed through a partnership between the University of Edinburgh, Scottish Government and Techscaler, the Scottish Ecosystem Platform provides includes funding round tracking, investor profiles and market trends.
Source: Business Insider
Scottish Government backs 'innovative industries' with £5 million
The Scottish Government has announced a nearly £5m investment package backing businesses in innovative industries.
It will provide more than £2m of support for new market clusters set out in Scotland’s Innovation Strategy, including space, robotics and critical technologies like semiconductors and quantum systems.
Source: Business Insider
Edinburgh research organisation receives £3.6 million for AI health project
An Edinburgh-based research organisation has been awarded £3.6m from Scottish Enterprise for a project that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to improve medical scans and speed up data analysis.
Canon Medical Research Europe’s (CMRE) new project will cost around £14m in total, and is expected to benefit both patients and health services.
Source: Business Insider
Scottish Health-Tech Trade Mission Heads to Japan
A trade mission from Scotland’s health technology sector is set to visit Japan next week to strengthen trade and innovation ties and promote Scottish expertise on the world stage. Led by health secretary Neil Gray, the delegation will feature a host of forward-thinking health-tech firms highlighting Scotland’s strengths in digital health and life sciences at a series of events, including Japan Health 2025 in Osaka and a programme at the UK Pavilion at Expo 2025.
Source: DIGIT