This week I had the pleasure of welcoming Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal to officially open the new £24 million bio-incubator building, Nine, at the Edinburgh BioQuarter. The official opening, with around 80 guests from industry and academia, marks a significant milestone in delivering the BioQuarter’s ambitious 25 year plan which will establish Scotland as one of the world’s top locations for life sciences.

The Edinburgh BioQuarter project is a truly transformational collaboration combining Scotland’s excellence in academia, healthcare and industry. By creating a cluster of scientists, clinicians and companies located on a single site we are confident that not only will we attract world-class life sciences companies and individual scientists to Scotland but will boost the rate of formation and growth of new science and technology ventures.

As the first commercial facility on the BioQuarter, Nine is an impressive 85,000 sq ft of modern flexible integrated office and lab space that, combined with existing facilities and the newly opened Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM), represent more than £75 million of investment in creating a fantastic breeding ground for commercialisation of new medical discoveries.

It is an exciting time for the life sciences sector in Scotland as the vision of a world class centre of life sciences R&D excellence develops alongside Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Already Nine has secured its first tenants and is attracting significant interest from potential occupiers, reinforcing the need for investment in Scotland’s business infrastructure to support industry growth.

The economic potential of the Edinburgh BioQuarter project is significant with ambition for £250 million investment to help deliver an estimated 6000 jobs and net GVA impact of £1 billion. Scotland has a distinguished history in developing breakthroughs in medical science and by working in partnership to deliver new facilities, like Nine and the SCRM at Edinburgh BioQuarter, we can help industry continue that tradition for centuries to come and have a significant impact on the Scottish economy.