The life science cluster at the heart of Scotland

Scotland is home to the second largest life science cluster in the UK and one of the most sizable clusters in Europe. The sector is largely focused on human healthcare – making up around 75 percent of the activity. It has major strengths in medical technology, clinical and translational medicine, pharmaceutical services, and regenerative medicine.

The Glasgow BioCorridor contributes significantly to the Scottish life sciences offer. From 2008 to 2012, the area was third in the UK for attracting life science foreign direct investment projects. From BioCity Scotland in Newhouse, North Lanarkshire to the GlaxoSmithKline facility in North Ayrshire, the BioCorridor spans less than 50 miles, with Glasgow city and its universities, research institutes and hospitals sitting at the heart of the region. The Glasgow BioCorridor now represents the consolidation of a robust ‘triple helix’ partnership across industry, academia and the public sector, with a mature, complex supply chain.

A number of leading global companies are established in Glasgow and the wider BioCorridor: GlaxoSmithKline as previously mentioned, but also Thermo Fisher Scientific, BioOutsource , Vascutek, Clyde BioSciences, Biogelx, Insignia Technologies and Alfacyte. More than 10,300 people work in life sciences in the BioCorridor, for some 230 life sciences companies, comprising 40 percent of Scotland’s total number of life science enterprises and 50 percent of Scotland’s medtech companies. A critical mass of companies, together with a dynamic, skilled labour force, is present in the region, where labour costs are significantly lower than in London or Cambridge. 

Investing in the future

Glasgow is rapidly becoming an exemplar for biomedical innovation and economic development within life sciences. Scotland’s investment of almost £1bn in the new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, opened by Her Majesty the Queen in 2015 and now the largest hospital in Western Europe, has provided the ideal environment to put Glasgow at the forefront of healthcare innovation.

The University of Glasgow and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have worked with a range of industry partners to develop industry-driven infrastructure to provide a focus for innovation and industry collaboration at the new hospital. Uniquely situated in the centre of the hospital campus, dedicated facilities have been created for the pharmaceutical industry and SMEs to engage with clinical academics and NHS clinicians.

The new physically linked facilities within the hospital campus include: a £25m purpose-built Teaching and Learning Centre, opened in 2015, for the training of undergraduate medical, postgraduate and nursing students alongside NHS staff, as well as providing the means to address the skills requirements of the Scottish Life Sciences industry through specialist postgraduate training; a £5m dedicated innovation floor, opened in 2015, incorporating incubator units for industry and the £20m Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre, a University of Glasgow-led, Scotland-wide collaboration with industry that is developing ‘precision medicine’ (advanced and precise treatments for individuals across a wide range of diseases); a £5m Clinical Research Facility, opened in 2014, ensuring the hospital is at the forefront of clinical trials of new medicines; a £32m Imaging Centre of Excellence, opening in 2016, which will include a 7 Tesla MRI scanner, an ultra-high resolution scanner that will be one of the first of its kind on a clinical site in the UK, together with collaboration space for industry and world-leading clinical academic expertise in stroke, cardiovascular disease and brain imaging; and the UK’s largest MRC-funded Molecular Pathology Node (£3.4m), focusing on the development and delivery of molecular diagnostics in partnership with industry.

These facilities have already enabled exciting new collaborations across the triple helix of academic research, NHS and industry, and this achievement by the University of Glasgow and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has been recognised by the 2015 Scottish Enterprise Life Sciences Innovative Collaboration Award and the Herald Higher Education 2015 award for Outstanding Employer Engagement. The unique strengths of the collaboration have also led to Innovate UK’s recent decision to locate the Scottish Centre of Excellence of the UK Catapult for Precision Medicine in Glasgow.

Glasgow’s partnership with industry has ensured the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital is already a major centre for life sciences and medical innovation, new products, and services development. The critical mass of state-of-the-art facilities is unique in the UK and, importantly, adds significant added value to the Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre.

In the last two years, the triple helix partnership has secured overall funding exceeding £70m from public, charity and industry sources to deliver these major new initiatives that engage all three parties to drive forwards successful economic development. Importantly, the partners have delivered added value to the Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre by: creating a world-leading centre for stratified clinical trials; attracting and enabling SMEs to work alongside the Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre; developing a ‘collaboration zone’ for industry, NHS and clinical academics; and leveraging funding for the adjacent Imaging Centre of Excellence that will be unique in the UK.

Anchored in the northwest

Anchoring the BioCorridor in the northwest is BioCity Scotland; this 20-acre site containing 130,000 square feet of labs and offices is a thriving life-science community in its own right with state-of-the-art laboratories and access to shared services. The Scottish Government recently announced BioCity Scotland would become an Enterprise Area – a move which could see employment at the site boosted by 180 new jobs over the next five years. Enterprise Area Status means businesses based at BioCity Scotland will be able to take advantage of business rates relief, faster planning applications, skills support and assistance in accessing international markets.

BioCity Scotland is now more than 50 percent occupied and expected to grow. This activity complements other initiatives underway, including MediCity Scotland (which will focus on commercialisation in the medical technology sector), and an Innovation Hub that was launched in April 2015. The Innovation Hub provides early stage companies with an opportunity to learn from and work with major healthcare practitioners, entrepreneurs and scientists. The first of its kind in Scotland, the Innovation Hub forms a unique partnership between BioCity Scotland, Scottish universities, NHS Scotland, Innovation Centres, Biopharmaceutical and big data companies. This collaborative approach aims to foster the success of more start-up and spin-out companies by giving them exceptional opportunities to learn from and work with major healthcare practitioners, entrepreneurs and scientists.

Some 45 percent of the companies in the life science sector in Scotland are medtech companies. Government recognition of the value of ‘clustering’ companies to create a thriving ecosystem came with the announcement of funding to establish MediCity Scotland to enhance what can already be offered to medtech projects or early start-up companies at BioCity Scotland. MediCity Scotland will provide a focal point for Scotland’s healthcare, diagnostics and med tech sector by bringing together the triple helix in a melting pot of innovation and creativity. MediCity Scotland will be the focal point for the ‘Innovation Engine’, BioCity’s company creation activity based on lean entrepreneurship and the business model canvas, which is due to run its ‘Develop’ programme again in 2016.

Taken together, there is a concentration of expertise, passion and innovation in Glasgow today. Coupled with 21st century infrastructure and continued investment, there is no reason to doubt Glasgow will continue to be at the forefront of discovery and application. Choose Glasgow and you’ll be in excellent company.

For further information, email invest@glasgow.gov.uk or visit investglasgow.com