10 July 2001

NEWS RELEASE from SET

The President of the Bulgarian National Academy of Medicine is visiting Dundee this week to establish links with local biotechnology companies and institutions.

Professor Chudomir Nachev is representing the Bulgarian medical universities and institutes that make up the Academy on the factfinding mission, which it is hoped will lead to greater collaboration with their counterparts in Dundee.

The visit will also help raise the profile of the Tayside biotechnology sector in Bulgaria, and help encourage some of the several hundred Bulgarian students who currently study at European universities to come to Dundee.

Professor Nachev will visit Cyclacel, Ninewells Teaching Hospital, Axis-Shield and the School of Life Sciences Biocentre at the University of Dundee during his stay. The four-day visit has been organised by Cyclacel with support from Scottish Enterprise Tayside. SET will give Professor Nachev a presentation on BioDundee.

Kevin Bazley, manager of biotechnology and commercialisation at SET, said, "The strength of the biotechnology sector in Tayside and the close working relationships between the institutions and companies is attracting a lot of interest around the world.

"These visits are important in raising Tayside's international profile even further and in establishing links with potentially lucrative markets. Professor Nachev's visit is a wonderful opportunity to set up collaborative research projects and perhaps attract students from Bulgaria to carry out research in Dundee."
Ends.

Notes to Editors:
Formed in 1991, Scottish Enterprise Tayside (SET) is one of 12 local enterprise companies (LEC's) covering the area from Grampian to Galloway and including 93% of Scotland's population.

SET covers the largest geographical area of any LEC - almost 3,000 square miles encompassing Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross. Its' annual budget of around £25 million is carefully invested in a wide range of projects designed to develop the local economy.

A key approach of the Scottish Enterprise Network strategy is helping to develop clusters in sectors such as biotechnology, food and drink, semiconductors and oil and gas as well as in tourism, creative industries, optoelectronics and forest industries. SET has many objectives for improving the quality of life in Tayside but, above all, it is aiming for an economy growing at a rate that is above the UK average and a level of unemployment falling below the Scottish average.

Media Enquiries: Mike Woodcock
Public Relations Executive
01382 305547
E-mail: mike.woodcock@scotent.co.uk