The BioHub project, aiming to accelerate the growth of pioneering life sciences companies in Aberdeen, has received a £2m funding boost from Scottish Enterprise.
The £40m project is set to double the size of North East Scotland’s life sciences sector, becoming home to spin-out, start-up and scaling businesses bringing new drugs, treatments, therapies and technology to market and creating jobs in the growing sector.
The Scottish Enterprise funding will support the final fit-out of the building and the small business incubator space in BioHub.
The building is set to open in late autumn, providing combination of specialist space and support for the industry. It will house up to 400 scientific entrepreneurs and 40 tenant businesses at total capacity.
BioHub is a flagship addition to the city’s Foresterhill Health Campus, one of Europe’s largest integrated clinical, research and teaching sites for life sciences and medicine.
Finance and Economy Secretary Kate Forbes visited the construction site and stated: “This additional investment in BioHub aligns closely with the Scottish Government’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation, highlighting the importance of strong regional economic partnerships, skills and retraining and focused support for new markets.
“The BioHub will support ambitious life sciences businesses to grow, including through the creation of highly skilled jobs in Aberdeen, the North East and more widely - through the Aberdeen City Region Deal the Scottish Government is contributing £125m to the area over ten years.”
During her visit, Forbes met life sciences leaders from Aberdeen companies NovaBiotics, Elasmogen and TauRx, who have championed the development of BioHub as a focal point for life sciences business creation and growth, at a roundtable hosted by Opportunity North East (ONE).
ONE is the lead partner and a co-funder of BioHub, which has secured £20m of capital funding jointly provided by the Scottish Government and UK Government via the Aberdeen City Region Deal. It has committed up to £5.6m to BioHub, while NHS Grampian and the University of Aberdeen are also strategic partners in the project.
Chair of ONE Life Sciences and BioAberdeen, and chief executive of NovaBiotics, Dr Deborah O’Neil, said: “Aberdeen has world-class research and innovation strengths in life sciences and a track record of producing exciting new businesses.
“The ongoing investment in BioHub will help accelerate commercialisation and business growth to bring new therapies, treatments, and technology to market.”
The life sciences sector in Scotland has a turnover of around £6.6bn, employing more than 40,000 people across over 750 organisations - and on target to achieve £8bn turnover by 2025.
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