Reaction to the news that the Scottish Government through the Scottish Funding Council are awarding Scottish universities £11.6m to help us compete for research projects alongside industry partners, Alastair Sim, Director of Universities Scotland said:
This £11.6m announcement from the Scottish Government is most welcome. The money will used to support world-leading research as well as supporting one of our other priorities: knowledge exchange with business, the public and third sectors. This will help aid innovations in our work to help businesses to grow, social enterprise, internationalisation and commercialisation of Scottish research.
Our competitors around the world have ramped up how much they invest in research and development; the UK Government has committed a 20% real terms increase in research and innovation investment as a core part the Industrial Strategy. This parallel investment from the Scottish Government is very much needed if we are to stay competitive and to have a chance of bringing a bigger share of research income back to Scotland from UK sources. Research and development is very important element of achieving inclusive economic growth and this investment will support the First Minister’s aspirations that Scotland should be the inventor and producer of innovations that will shape the lives of our children.