The core funding, announced by Ivan McKee MSP, Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, to the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonic (CAP) will enable the purchase of cutting-edge equipment and doctorate level student training.

The latter is considered a crucial part of the Fraunhofer model and both are essential components in delivering ‘next generation products and processes’.

“The funding will support the third phase of the centre’s world-class research and innovation activities and is another step towards the Scottish Government’s target of growing business enterprise R&D in Scotland to £1.8 billion by 2025,” said the MSP.

He added: “In the longer term, we want to boost Scotland’s innovation performance to match the levels of the best performing countries worldwide.”

Quantum tech, healthcare, life science, renewable energy, navigation, communication and space are just some of the fields in which Fraunhofer’s scientists have been helping companies in Scotland, and beyond, to develop and bring products to market over the last nine years.

Housed in Strathclyde University’s Technology and Innovation Centre,  Fraunhofer’s CAP is the first of its kind in the UK and has a close relationship with the university. Since its inception, the centre has had a hand in delivering more than 180 projects with 100 companies, typically producing pre-production prototypes and validating novel technology.

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A recent independent assessment found the economic impact of Fraunhofer in Scotland to be substantial,  supporting hundreds of jobs and boosting company turnover in the hundreds of millions.

Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Principal & Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde, said: “As a leading technological university, Strathclyde is proud of its close relationship with the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics.

“This funding boost is recognition by the Scottish Government of the importance of this centre of excellence, one of the jewels in the Glasgow City Innovation District.

“It also recognises the role our strategic collaboration plays in working with industrial partners to develop enabling technologies across a range of sectors that provide innovative solutions to global challenges and support and grow the economy.”

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