Plans to turn northeast Scotland into a thriving centre for life sciences have been given a boost. The BioHub project in Aberdeen has been awarded £2 million by Scottish Enterprise, the state-backed development agency.
The funding was announced on a visit to the construction site by Kate Forbes, Scotland’s finance secretary. The building on the Foresterhill campus is expected to open in the autumn with capacity for up to 40 businesses and hundreds of entrepreneurs.
The life sciences sector employs about 40,000 people in Scotland in more than 750 organisations that have a collective turnover of £6.6 billion.
The BioHub is seen as a way to help diversify Aberdeen’s energy-based economy. The aim is to double the size of the life sciences sector in the northeast.
The project is mainly being funded through the city region deal which was supported by the governments in Holyrood and Westminster and the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire councils.
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•The Times will host a life sciences summit in Aberdeen on March 30 with a keynote address from Mark Bamforth, the executive chairman of Arranta Bio. The event takes place at the King’s College Conference Centre at the University of Aberdeen, with other speakers including executives from Opportunity North East, Novabiotics, Elasmogen and Taurx. Further details at times-event.com/lifesciences/
