Industrial research 'should carry more weight'

Published on Wednesday 24 June 2009 22:42

RESEARCH carried out by industry and academia in partnership should carry the same weight as experiments funded by the research councils, a senior life sciences figure has claimed.

Dr Stephen Hammond, chief executive of drug discovery company Scottish Biomedical, said university academics often saw industrial research as "second best" and not up to the same standard as studies published in peer-reviewed science journals.

Hammond maintained that any work undertaken by Scottish Biomedical – which has pumped 20 million into research collaborations with universities – in concert with academics goes through rigorous vetting. He warned that the firm "doesn't do it for fun" but because it wants results.

His comment came ahead of a debate tonight organised by Nexxus, central Scotland's network for life scientists. Academics and industrials – include Hammond – will go head-to-head to discuss whether collaborations between universities and private firms can truly work.

Hammond said: "University academics see industrial research as second best. It's seen as having lesser value. To change that, government would have to rank industrial funding equally or higher to science council funding when they assess university research."

Professor David Gani, director of research policy and strategy at the Scottish Funding Council, said: "Academic and commercial research partnerships can work and they can work well."