A new white paper has announced Glasgow as part of a £100 million fund to build three research centres across the UK as part of the Government’s latest “levelling up” plans.

The proposed Glasgow research facility will come to the city centre, propogating innovation, research, and development that “will drive-up prosperity and opportunity for local people”.

Plans for the centre are said to be “inspired by the Stanford-Silicon Valley and MIT-Greater Boston models of combining excellent research with cutting-edge industry in a city-region”.

The move has been met with mixed reception across the Scottish political/economic spectrum. The Scottish Government welcomed the extra funding, but said that UK ministers should not make spending decisions about devolved areas without “meaningful consultation or engagement.”

Despite Gove positioning the move as a chance for “all layers of government – UK, devolved and local – to work together,” Scottish Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes, echoed the sentiment of many ministers in claiming the move undermines the autonomy of the devolved administrations, saying: “I will always welcome additional investment in Scotland and the potential for more job creation.

He added: “Thanks to locally led partnerships working closely with the UK Government, the region will become a major innovation cluster delivering high end jobs.”

The Glasgow innovation accelerator comes as part of wider £4.8bn fund to support regeneration, transport projects, and education across the UK as part of the Government’s levelling-up programme.

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