An upbeat Professor Sir David Lane, leading cancer scientist at the University of Dundee, charged the atmosphere at this morning's (9/5) national biotechnology conference with an inspiring vision for Dundee as Europe's centre for biotechnology and enterprise.
"Why should Dundee not be the European MIT or Stanford?" he asked the audience of 150 academics, agencies and business people gathered in at the University of Dundee 's West Park Centre for BioDundee's conference, Biotechnology Its Place in the UK Economy. "There is something very special about this university and the leaders of this university - their patience and persistence - which make it possible."
But he warned them, to continue to succeed in the global market place, Dundee has to be able to offer something strikingly different to other locations. "We have to be cheaper, we have to be better, we have to be innovative in everything... We have to do something shocking!" he advised. "A small city like Dundee has that potential - to break the rules. It can be done. I think we are beginning to do it."
His vision for the future includes 50 spin out companies of the stature of Cyclacel spawning a community of philanthropic new millionaires committed to Dundee and its institutions.
"What we need in Dundee is to build our cluster of new companies." Clusters feed on each other in a very productive way and have the potential to attract international venture capitalists to the area in a way that a single company cannot. But such companies need careful nurturing to succeed. Spin out companies are like babies he told delegates. Bringing them into the world is a tough process and they need plenty of care and support, especially in those first few years.
Sharing the excitement of establishing his own spin out cancer therapeutics company, Cyclacel, Sir David demonstrated the enthusiasm and verve which drove the project through the difficult early process to where it is today - a highly successful company which has attracted global investment and world class talent to the city - currently 57 employees and 27 PhD students are working there - and an extensive network of partnerships with other companies and universities throughout Europe and the USA.
"I have no pessimism about our future here. Dundee is a very attractive environment for people like me. And there are lots more people like me out there. Dundee offers quality of life, quality of scientists here and future growth potential."
But he said, complacency should not be allowed to creep in. We need to formulate a radical policy for new company development in this area, he told delegates. Integrated support, speed and simple guidelines on equity shares in the spirit of "invest first tax later" were the most important points.
Earlier in the day Nobel prizewinner and Chancellor of the University of Dundee Sir James Black made an impassioned plea to all those present not to lose sight of the importance of funding "discovery science".
"You can only make an invention if a discovery has been made before," he reminded them. "I am begging you to recognise that if our society does not make provision for basic discovery going on then you will not have the basis of development in years ahead."
He went on "When you are organising set up companies please remember that the basic science has to be going on and it has to be funded."