University bid to set up 1,000 jobs

Dundee University seeking £100m

Dundee University is seeking more than £100 million of funding as part of an ambitious plan to create more than 1,000 jobs – and turn the city into a world leader in forensic medicine.

The plans, which have been submitted as part of the Tay Cities Deal, would see the number of jobs in Dundee life sciences centre increase by around 400 if a £64m funding bid is approved.

The university is also seeking another £43m, which it says could help put Dundee on the global stage in the multi-billionpound forensic science sector and create around 500 new jobs over the next 10 years in the process.

UK and Scottish government ministers are expected to sign off on the £1.8 billion Tay Cities Deal’s heads of terms within a matter of weeks.

This will set out what projects put forward in the Tay Cities Deal proposal receive funding.

A Dundee University spokesman said: “The Tay Cities Deal has the potential to attract significant investment and create new jobs here at the University of Dundee.”

The City of Discovery could become a world leader in forensic science under ambitious plans put forward by Dundee University as part of the Tay Cities Deal.

UK and Scottish Government ministers are expected to sign off on the £1.8 billion package within a matter of weeks. The investment is expected to bring thousands of new jobs to Dundee and the surrounding area over the next decade.

Around 50 projects were included in the Tay Cities Deal bid document.

Although most of the focus has been on the development of decommissioning in Dundee, The Courier can now reveal details of proposals by Dundee University that would see more than 1,000 new posts created in life sciences and forensic medicine on the back of more than £100 million of investment.

Bosses are seeking £64m to grow the city’s biomedical cluster, creating around 400 new scientific or medical technology-related jobs as well as another 240 in the construction sector.

If granted, the money would pay for new business incubation space as well as a new floor at the elective diagnostic and treatment centre at Ninewells Hospital.

This would provide space for an integrated healthcare simulation training and Medtech innovation unit.

The university is also asking for £43m to capitalise on its Uk-leading forensic science sector.

The Just-tech programme aims to turn Dundee into a world-leader in forensic science, creating around 500 new jobs over 10 years.

A supporting document produced by the university states: “The project leverages our burgeoning reputation in forensic science research to create a new economic cluster for the Tay Cities region.

“Operating in a fast-growing global sector and with ever wider translational opportunities we will harness the economic benefits of new knowledge, working with start-ups, SMES and corporations.

“This will be a unique opportunity to create from the ground floor a new model for the translation of research

“Forensic science research and development at the University of Dundee is poised to step on to the global stage

into a myriad of new technological applications with global impact.”

It continues: “The global market in traditional forensic science provision has more than doubled since 2012 and will reach an estimated £19 billion by 2020.

“Forensic science research and development at the University of Dundee is poised to step on to the global stage.”

The university also anticipates the development of the forensic science sector will attract new investment to Tayside.

A Dundee University spokesman said: “The Tay Cities Deal has the potential to attract significant investment and create new jobs here at the University of Dundee.”

A 20-year economic strategy and the Tay Cities Deal bid document were submitted to the UK and Scottish Governments in March last year.

It is estimated up to 10,000 jobs could be created by the Tay Cities Deal if all its proposals succeed.