University of Glasgow shows how £20m funding has been spent

Alister Jack MP met with researchers to find out about new projects funded by the UK Government’s Levelling Up – Innovation Accelerator fund.

It comes after the six projects linked to the University were given £20.9m in new funding from Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation Agency.

The projects will receive a further £16.2m in contributions from partner organisations.

Alister Jack MP met with researchers to find out about new projects (Image: Sourced)

The new funding, totalling £37.1m, will support developments in healthcare, drug discovery and development, quantum technologies, sensing, digital access to museums, and financial technologies.

This follows the recent announcement in June that Glasgow City Region will become one of the UK’s new Investment Zones, designed to foster entrepreneurship and build on the significant research strengths within the city area.

During the visit, Mr Jack was given a tour of the University’s Mazumdar-Shaw Advanced Research Centre, where some of the projects will be based.

Six projects linked to the University were given £20.9m in new funding. (Image: Sourced)

He met representatives from the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde, which have both been supported by the Innovation Accelerator funding.

Mr Jack was also shown the University of Glasgow’s ‘Museums in the Metaverse’ project, which will use extended and virtual reality technology to widen access to cultural assets stored in the world’s museums, boosting our support for innovation in creative industries.

He then visited the labs of Chemify Ltd, a spinout from the University which is working to digitise chemistry to speed up the development of new advances in medicine, farming, materials science, and green energy.

Uzma Khan, the University of Glasgow’s Vice-Principal Economic Development and Innovation, led the visit along with Professor Frank Coton, the University’s Senior Vice Principal and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic).

Alister Jack MP saw how the the UK Government’s Levelling Up – Innovation Accelerator fund is being used. (Image: Sourced)

Ms Khan said: “We were delighted to welcome the Secretary of State for Scotland to the University to discuss the groundbreaking research and development projects that are being supported by Innovation Accelerator funding.

“The funding will help us and our partners in the public and private sectors to deliver transformative benefits by creating new jobs, supporting innovation and application of new technologies in a wide range of sectors, and in generating economic and wider benefit across the Glasgow City Region.

Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack, said: "Scottish universities are among the best in the world and it was fascinating to visit the University of Glasgow today and hear about all the excellent work they are doing.

"Enabling and investing in innovation is a key priority for the UK Government and it is exciting to see the progress already underway as a result of our investment in Glasgow - including through the Innovation Accelerator and Glasgow City Region Deal.

"I look forward to seeing this progress continuing and effective partnerships growing as plans for the Glasgow Investment Zone are developed."