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Health and life sciences industries

With around 770 life sciences organisations employing over 42,500 people, Scotland is one of the largest life sciences clusters in Europe. From global pharma services companies to medical technology startups, we’ve got the networks, support and skills you need to succeed.

Did you know?

Scotland's Imaging Centre of Excellence is home to the 7 Tesla (7T) MRI scanner, an ultra-high resolution scanner – the first of its kind within a UK clinical site, underpinned by world-leading clinical expertise in stroke, cardiovascular disease and brain imaging.

  • £10.5 billion turnover

    Scotland's life sciences industry has surpassed its 2025 target of £8 billion turnover – the latest data shows a turnover of almost £10.5 billion.

  • £56 million innovation centre

    Scotland is home to the world-first industry-led Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre.

  • Scotland's expanding life sciences cluster

    From drug discovery and diagnostics to precision medicine and healthcare

    Scotland’s exciting life sciences sector contributes £4.6 billion gross value added to the Scottish economy and the latest data (from 2021) shows a 19% increase in turnover since 2020.

    A strong collaboration across industry, the NHS (Scotland’s unified healthcare provider), universities and government makes Scotland an excellent place for your life sciences business to grow.

    We have a strong track record of successful, efficient and safe clinical trials and have several innovation centres and centres of excellence to support businesses.

    Exciting developments happening right now across Scotland include:

    • The new £56 million Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre
    • The £65 million National Manufacturing Institute Scotland in Renfrewshire
    • A new £38 million Precision Medicine Living Lab in Glasgow
    • A £40 million BioHub in Aberdeen
    • A £25 million investment to grow the Tayside Biomedical Cluster

Opportunities for your business

  • The future of health

    Tapping into technology to take healthcare to the next level

    Scotland has been at the forefront of medical innovations for over 200 years, so it makes sense that we’re continuing to lead the way with the development of technology-driven healthcare solutions.

    Scotland’s ability to develop new solutions for healthcare based around informatics, big data and patient stratification is exemplary. An outstanding level of academic and industry collaboration has created a truly open innovation environment.

    It is also the natural choice for innovative digital health and care projects looking for integrated technology solutions. It has connected technology infrastructure, one of the largest ICT and technology communities in Europe, and an innate determination to provide healthcare solutions that benefit everyone.

    Learn more about innovation in Scotland 

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Need help?

If you have a question about life sciences and health technology opportunities in Scotland, our team of advisers can help.

Phone: +44 300 013 2734 opens in a new window