Scottish Enterprise encourages life sciences companies to voyage into space

Scottish Enterprise will host a pioneering event today (Tuesday 19 February) to discuss the scientific challenges, business opportunities and benefits for healthcare that could be realised through collaboration between Scotland’s space and life sciences companies.

Held at NINE, Edinburgh BioQuarter, the space medicine and life sciences mini symposium aims to encourage life sciences, medical devices and diagnostics and manufacturing companies to work together with companies in the space industry to develop new products and technology that can be used by astronauts and doctors alike.

Products that have been developed for space and subsequently exploited for terrestrial applications, include an artificial heart that uses technology originally deployed in space shuttle fuel pumps; a blood diagnostic tool that uses NASA technology to create an instrument for hospitals and doctors' offices that reduces the time it takes to analyse blood from 20 minutes to 30 seconds, and a lifesaving light developed for plant growth experiments on space shuttle missions that is now used to treat brain tumours in children.

Rhona Allison, director of life sciences, Scottish Enterprise, said: “The ongoing success of the Scottish life sciences industry is internationally recognised and our work in this exciting new area of space medicine further highlights the ambition and global outlook of our skills base.

“There are some hugely significant opportunities for Scotland in this area and it’s our role to work with our partners to ensure that companies are equipped with the right support and expertise to take advantage of these, ensuring we are able to deliver on the industry’s ambition of generating turnover of £6 billion pounds by 2020.

Of particular significance in the area of space and life sciences sector collaboration is the fast-growing medical technology market which focuses on developing devices that are low power, light weight and fully reliable in remote and harsh environments, such as space.

Forty percent of Scottish life sciences companies currently target medical technology markets and generate around £1 billion of turnover per year, with the medical technology market estimated to be worth more than £150 billion worldwide, growing to around £300 billion by 2015.

Scottish Enterprise and the Satellite Applications Catapult are also working together to investigate the creation of a Space and Life Sciences innovation centre at Edinburgh BioQuarter.

Speakers at the Symposium include Dr Jon Heavey, a practicing emergency physician, and Neil Veloso, Director of Commercialisation, both at the Cleveland Clinic Centre for Space Medicine - the not-for-profit commercialisation arm of America’s largest hospital, that aims to contribute to the solution of medical problems experiences by humans during space flight.