Health Secretary launches universities’ science partnership

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon spoke at Strathclyde at the official launch of a venture capitalising on the academic and commercial strengths of lasers, optics and semiconductors.   

Ms Sturgeon launched the partnership, known as SU2P, a venture between academic institutions in Scotland and California aimed at extracting economic impact from their joint research portfolio in photonics and related technologies.

Strathclyde is leading the collaboration, which also includes the Universities of St Andrews, Heriot-Watt and Glasgow, Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology.
The three-year programme is designed to create new businesses in Scotland and to reinforce industry links by offering businesses in the UK and the US a platform for exploring new prospects for translating cutting edge university research into commercial opportunity, and working with university scientists to identify and solve problems and challenges facing industry. Applications include life sciences, renewable energy, communication technologies and semiconductors.

The partnership will open up opportunities for companies to bolster their competitive position through networking with senior managers of Stanford-affiliated global companies. Access will also be enabled to leading researchers and entrepreneurs based at Stanford and in Scotland.     

Outstanding young researchers will have the chance under the project to work in laboratories in California. Three SU2P Entrepreneurial Fellows are currently spending a year gaining valuable experience at Stanford. One of the fellows is developing a retinal prosthesis that may one day restore vision, while a second is working on techniques for stem cell imaging and the third is developing an infrared laser for applications in bioengineering.

Ms Sturgeon said: “It is great to see the University of Strathclyde leading this collaboration between Scottish and American institutions. This programme has the potential to benefit Scotland immensely through the creation of new businesses and by strengthening our academic-industry links both here and with the US.”
Professor Allister Ferguson, Deputy Principal of Strathclyde and Principal Investigator in the partnership, said: “We have great pleasure in welcoming the Health Secretary today and welcome her endorsement of the pioneering work being pursued by this new partnership.