Glasgow City Region is seeing an influx of private investment into its local innovation economy, driven by an Innovation Accelerator programme. The initiative is spearheaded by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation and the Department for Science and Innovation (DSIT).

Selected as one of three high-potential innovation clusters to pilot the Innovation Accelerator programme, Glasgow City Region joined Greater Manchester and the West Midlands in this endeavour, receiving a third of £100 million allocated funding.

“This unique pilot has supported Glasgow City Region to innovate at pace and in a way never seen before, fostering co-creation between business, academia and national and local Government,” says Dean Cook, director of place and Levelling up at Innovate UK.

The Innovation Accelerator pilot, slated to run until March 2025, aims to showcase the impact of collaborative innovation on regional economies. Full results and impacts will be shared later, underscoring Innovate UK’s commitment to driving innovation and bolstering the UK’s global competitiveness.

Now reaching their halfway mark, these projects are pivotal in driving the region’s economic growth strategy, particularly in sectors such as advanced manufacturing, space, and precision medicine.

“The Innovation Accelerator programme aims to demonstrate how partnership between a city region and UK Government provides synergy and can strengthen innovation clusters as well as catalyse strong local growth,” continued Cook. 

“Glasgow City Region leadership has tremendous knowledge of their R&D strengths and how to develop them, and Innovate UK can connect these local strengths into national and global opportunities. Learnings from the pilot programme are already feeding into how we evolve Innovate UK’s broader range of support for business, driving forward the UK as an outstanding place to innovate.”

Among the standout projects is ‘modular chemical robot farms for chemical manufacturing,’ led by Chemify Limited, a spin-out from the University of Glasgow. Leveraging AI-driven chemistry, Chemify aims to revolutionise chemical manufacturing processes, from molecule design to automated lab production.

Following a £7.5 million investment through the Innovation Accelerator, Chemify has attracted an additional £28 million in funding from global private investors, including entities from Hong Kong and the United States. The company has also forged a new partnership to expedite the discovery of non-addictive opioids through ground-breaking chemistry AI-robotics.

Recommended reading

• Glasgow Uni Helps Doctors ‘See’ Bowel Cancer
• Glasgow City Council Set to Trial IoT Bins
• New Glasgow Uni Project Aims to Tackle Gender Bias in Healthcare AI

“Glasgow City Region’s innovation economy is spinning out from the laboratories and tech spaces to contribute to the employment, training, and productivity outcomes our citizens need and economy demands,” said Susan Aitken, chair of the Glasgow City Region cabinet and leader of Glasgow City Council.  

“The Innovation Accelerator programme has been critical to that. The surge in global investment that Chemify has received is just one of the major success stories resulting from this important programme. Partnership across all sectors and all layers of government is critical to driving forward innovation.”