Toshiba to create 100 Scottish life science jobs

Toshiba, the Japanese electronics giant, last night unveiled plans to create 100 jobs in Edinburgh over the next three years as it pumps £15.5 million into its medical scanning business.

Scottish Enterprise (SE) has also given the company a 3m research and development (R&D) grant, one of the largest ever handed out in the life sciences sector by the economic development agency.

The firm is setting up a centre in the Scottish capital that will develop ways of using computers to analyse images taken by medical scanners as part of efforts to diagnose diseases.

The work will build on Toshiba Medical Visualisation Systems (TMVS), which was set up in 2009 when the group bought the advanced visualisation imaging division of Barco, which had been setup by Edinburgh University graduates in 1995,

Toshiba - which will initially create 26 jobs at the centre, before ramping up to 100 over the next three years - expects the Edinburgh facility to become one of its top centres globally.

The announcement was made as part of last night's SE life sciences dinner in Edinburgh.

SE chief executive Lena Wilson told the 750 guests at the dinner: "This is one of the biggest life sciences R&D projects we've ever supported and it demonstrates the real capabilities that Scotland has within the sector for attracting and supporting life sciences companies at a global level.

"The fact that Toshiba is establishing this new centre in Scotland is further proof that Scotland can compete with the best in the world."

TMVS president Fredric Friedberg praised the links between Scotland's universities and industry and cited the pool of "top talent" as being among his reasons for siting the centre in Edinburgh.