Scotland’s Chief Scientific Adviser will today stress the growing importance of public and private sector collaboration to support and further expand the country’s world class life sciences sector.
Professor Anne Glover, who was appointed in August by the Scottish Executive to build upon Scotland's reputation as a science nation, will also stress the need for associated businesses to do more to make them more internationally competitive.
She believes small and medium sized companies – and their financial backers – must begin ploughing far more money into research and development and should also be forging more partnerships with organisations like universities to build on their expertise.
Academics also need to be "more open" to collaborating with businesses, she says.
Professor Glover, Chair in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Aberdeen, will deliver her hopes for Scotland's life sciences future at a key event taking place this afternoon at the University's Institute of Medical Sciences.
Organised by Life Sciences Alliance and the University of Aberdeen, the event entitled Benefiting from Collaboration and Connectivity: Life Sciences Alliance Workshop features a host of key speakers which include senior figures from the University of Aberdeen; representatives of University spinouts, as well as experts in partnerships which bring academia and industry together.
The event is the latest in a series of workshops which explore the advantages that arise from different organisations like Universities, businesses and the NHS collaborating and sharing knowledge and expertise.
Professor Glover will tell today's event that Scotland already has an impressive track record and reputation for life sciences research and also punches above its weight in the amount of income it receives from UK research councils and charities.
Says Professor Glover: "We know that the Scottish science base performs very well in terms of life sciences and that the number of Scottish life sciences companies making their mark in the world markets is growing.
"We know there is real momentum politically and socially to grow this sector in Scotland.
"However there are also several barriers to the development of the sector. In developing our science and innovation strategy this year, I will be looking at the health of the science base overall, including the life sciences and developing capacity in some of the other key disciplines we will need in the development of the sector, for example in Physical Sciences.
"One of the major bottlenecks on development of our sciences has historically been our business R&D and our long term growth rate. In Scotland the private sector R&D investment is 0.58% of our GDP, which is just over half a billion pounds per year. The UK figure is more than double that at 1.24%. In Finland the figure is 2.45% and in Sweden 2.93%
"Of course in Scotland we have a high rate of R&D expenditure through our institutions and initiatives run by Scottish Enterprise and others are trying to plug the gap."
Professor Glover concludes: "I think we all need to work to change the culture in academia to be more open to business. I think we need to continue to pump prime private sector investment in R&D. I think we all need to continue to collaborate to sell Scotland. And I think we need to ensure that Scotland is at the centre of global science collaborations today and in the future."