22.06.12
Life sciences boost for Scotland announced
Scotland will lead the world in life sciences, health secretary Nicola Sturgeon is to pledge at a conference later today.
Speaking at the NHS Scotland conference, Delivering Quality through Innovation, she will outline a new vision to increase medical innovations and invest in technology to care for people at home rather than in hospital.
The Scottish government wants to double the economic contribution of life sciences to £6bn by 2020, she will announce.
Sturgeon is to say: “Many of the greatest advances in the history of medicine come from Scotland and we are already at the forefront in many areas of clinical and health research.
“Continued investment in this area has the potential to lead to groundbreaking medical breakthroughs which could benefit patients both in Scotland and across the globe.
“This statement is hugely significant for Scottish industry. It presents our innovative companies with a fantastic opportunity to work closely with the NHS to develop products and services that will benefit patients and the Scottish economy.
“I look forward to working with public and private sector partners to bring the ambitions of this statement to life forScotland's innovators, entrepreneurs and business owners.”
Dr John Brown, chairman of the Scottish Life Sciences Association, said: “Our members from across the life sciences sector in Scotland understand the importance of the NHS as a driver of health innovation, as well as a market for their products.
“We will play our part in encouraging our 100 member companies to take this opportunity to develop products and services which meet NHS needs for innovation – it is a classic win-win situation.”
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