Health & Life Sciences

Glasgow – Leader in Health & Life Sciences

Scotland has long been a trailblazer and pioneer in the life sciences sector, over the past century during which Scottish science introduced MRI scanning (first used in a medical context in Glasgow), penicillin and a variety of other ingenious medical, pharmaceutical and technological inventions. It is this spirit of innovation that continues to drive Scotland as a life sciences powerhouse, complete with dedicated resources devoted to facilitating fields as varied as drug discovery, bioinformatics, medical device development, clinical trials and more.

The sector is key to the development of Glasgow’s economy, and the private and public sectors are actively engaged alongside academic institutions in making these developments happen and attracting both inward and foreign direct investment to propel growth. Glasgow and the West of Scotland are well-poised to take advantage of the demand for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology product development and commercialisation and have the resources and infrastructure to support investment in these areas.

Competitive advantage: Health & Life Sciences Glasgow

• The Glasgow Bio Corridor stretches from the BioCity incubation centre at the former Merck drugs factory in Newhouse in the East through Glasgow City with its universities and new south Glasgow hospital campus to GlaxoSmithKline’s facility at Irvine. The Glasgow BioCorridor’s philosophy is to facilitate collaborative work between the public sector, industry and academia and enable all stakeholders to take advantage of specialised facilities and expertise found in the area.
• The Glasgow BioCorridor is home to a diverse array of life sciences companies, and this mix is set to continue growing. For example, GlaxoSmithKline, Life Technologies, Vascutek and contract research organisations, such as BioOutsource ad SB Drug Discovery.
• The area is has almost 50% of all of Scotland’s medtech companies, with 36% of life science companies being based in West of Scotland.
• In the Glasgow BioCorridor more than 233 companies operate in the life sciences, employing upwards of 10,300 people.
• Within the corridor, 29 companies operate in Glasgow, employing nearly 1,000 people (excluding university researchers).
• To put Glasgow into context, more than 100 new life sciences companies have been established in the past five years throughout Scotland.
• More medical research is conducted per capita in Scotland than anywhere else in Europe (LifeSciencesinScotland.com).
• Leaders in life sciences business development and research who are based in Glasgow include Kevin Moore, OBE, a life science entrepreneur and consultant who received the Nexus Life Sciences Achievement Award (West) for his contributions to Scotland’s life sciences industry and Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, the Regius Professor of Medicine, Vice Principal and Head of College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow as well as honorary consultant physician with the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board.

>> Download the Glasgow Life Sciences sector proposition (PDF 780kB)