Objective 4: | Strengthen bilateral science links |
Target/Indicator: | Increase significantly the number of research projects involving collaboration between scientists in Scotland and the USA by 2010, as measured by indicators such as funded projects and joint publications |
The USA is currently, and is expected to remain, the world's pre-eminent country for scientific research. OECD data show that the USA was the largest global spender on research and development in 2003, spending $285 billion, or 42% of the OECD total. 1 The USA also ranks first in scientific output as measured by articles in scientific journals and accounts for around 30% of the world total of research articles. 2
Scotland has an excellent science base in its universities, ranking third in the world for the number of research publications per head of population. Edinburgh University is in the top 50 of world science universities in the respected Jiaong Tong rankings, and is ranked fifth in the UK.
Scotland is recognised as a global leader in its own right in various scientific fields. For example, the US-based life sciences magazine, The Scientist, in its 2005 annual survey of academics, ranked the Universities of Dundee and Glasgow as respectively the first and second best institutions in Europe in which to work in life sciences.
Scottish educational and research institutions already enjoy strong research links with the USA. Through continuing to strengthen these bilateral research links, Scotland will enhance its own scientific research capability with consequent benefits for Scotland's productivity and economic growth.
The Executive and its partners will continue to work with Scottish scientific institutions to develop research links with US counterparts. Scottish Enterprise is already investing £6 million in the joint research programme between the Universities of Edinburgh and Stanford. Scottish Development International has supported activity to promote bilateral research collaboration in the life sciences in both Scotland and the USA.
As an example of Scottish- US scientific collaboration, in April 2006 the First Minister announced a new £50m investment in the world's first Translational Medicine Research Collaboration, to be located in Scotland. The Collaboration will comprise Wyeth Pharmaceuticals of the USA, four of Scotland's leading universities (Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow), Scottish Enterprise and NHSScotland. It will provide new impetus for Scotland to lead the world in the development of personalised medicine, bringing new treatments to patients suffering from a range of serious illnesses.
Wyeth plans to invest an estimated £33 million in the first five years with an option to extend for a further five years. Scottish Enterprise will invest up to £17.5 million. The Collaboration model will consist of a central core Research Laboratory working with 'Centres of Excellence' in each of the four University Medical Schools. The Research Laboratory will be based in Dundee, with 50 scientific jobs created in the first instance, rising to as many as 120 over five years.
US-Scottish scientific links are also supported by partners outside of government. The Royal Society of Edinburgh ( RSE) has around 40 fellows based in the USA. The RSE's Open Exchange Programme, which is funded by the Scottish Executive, supports short-term placements of scientific researchers both into and out of Scotland to enhance international scientific collaboration. This programme has been particularly popular in relation to the USA.
The development over time of US-Scottish scientific research links will be monitored through forthcoming survey research. This will baseline Scottish institutions' international scientific activity, including research links with the USA. This research will then be repeated in future years to track progress in increasing international research collaboration.
A researcher in life sciences in Dundee. The University of Dundee was voted the premier place to work in Europe by in The Scientist magazine's poll of researchers and will be home to Wyeth's Translational Medicine Research Laboratory, creating up to 120 research jobs over five years.