Edinburgh Science Triangle
Edinburgh Science Triangle (EST) has been announced as the Scottish winner of the Enterprising Britain 2007 Awards.
Edinburgh Science Triangle, a collective of seven of the Lothians' leading science and technology parks which collaborate to achieve international renown, beat off stiff competition from eight other nominees from across Scotland.In late 2002, a stakeholder working group was established comprising representatives from the Lothian Local Authorities (excluding East Lothian Council), the Lothians’ science parks and Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian (SEE&L) to take forward collaborative marketing as a means of attracting further investment into the wider science park area. The catalyst was the appreciation that the academic and commercial operations in the parks had a wealth of untapped knowledge that would benefit their counterparts.
Following this meeting, Edinburgh Science Triangle was born to help promote the breadth of science capabilities in Edinburgh and the Lothians. The main objective of the project was to establish Scotland as one of the top twenty research and development locations in Europe, thereby attracting high value activities to the area. Through targeted marketing and promotion, the business strategy was to capitalise on the collective strengths and successes of Edinburgh’s Science Triangle to increase the number of research and technology operations located in Edinburgh and the Lothians.
Phase one of the EST initiative was launched in June 2004 and it is now the base for 3,300 highly skilled world-class researchers and over 100 companies, an impressive increase in employment opportunities of over 20 per cent. Whilst the emphasis in EST phase one was essentially raising awareness, phase two will see a marked shift towards lead generation, networking and community building activity and EST estimates a further 15,000 new jobs could yet be created.
EST has already achieved its primary aim of securing a place in the world's top 20 science parks and now aspires to become one of Europe’s top 10 research and development locations. EST has attracted Scottish companies such as Viragen, Lux Biotechnology and Alba Bioscience, as well as major multi-nationals such as Johnson & Johnson and Charles River Laboratories.
This collaboration is an excellent example of how the region is combining the academic strengths of its world-class universities, with its global strengths in key industries such as life sciences, technology, energy and informatics. Recent announcements - such as the £60 million Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the Centre for Biomedical Research - have underlined the region’s commitment to maintaining world-class capabilities in science and innovation.
The invaluable work of Edinburgh Science Triangle will lead to more collaboration and greater convergence between different sectors, ultimately delivering double-figure growth and a greater overall impact on Scotland’s economy.
Terry Currie, senior director for Growing Businesses at Scottish Enterprise, said:
“This year’s Enterprising Britain 2007 Awards finalists were of an extremely high calibre. The judges were looking for a town, city or place that had best improved the economic prospects of the region and encouraged enterprise activities.”
“Edinburgh Science Triangle was chosen as the winner as it's a great example of how multiple partners can come together to share knowledge, experience and a common objective to deliver greater economic impact for the immediate area and Scotland as a whole. I congratulate Edinburgh Science Triangle on a well deserved win."
Barry Shafe, project director for Edinburgh Science Triangle, said:
“These are exciting times for Edinburgh Science Triangle and we now want to take the project to its next phase. The Edinburgh and Lothian region has long been at the leading edge of creativity and innovation, giving the world some major inventions and breakthroughs that we take for granted today.
“Winning the Scottish Enterprising Britain 2007 Award is a great endorsement of the work and effort each of our partners has put into the project.”