Sir Philip Cohen from the University of Dundee will give a special invited lecture to the City of Linkoping in Sweden on Wednesday, September 10th entitled "The Dundee Phenomenon".
In this talk Sir Philip, Research Director in the School of Life Sciences, will chart the rise of biotechnology in Dundee rising from a post industrial port to the largest hub of biotech, biochemistry and biomedicine in the UK outside Cambridge.
Linkoping is a similar size to Dundee and has ambitions to emulate Dundee, where the 'three Bs' now account for 12% of the local economy.
A delegation from Linkoping is expected to visit Dundee later this year to see at first hand Dundee's rapid progress in this area.
Sir Philip will tell an audience of politicians, businessmen and academics that the 'three Bs' is a home grown industry that is here to stay for the foreseeable future. "It is remarkable that Biotechnology is still growing in Dundee at a time when it has been contracting in other places in the UK such as Cambridge."
Expanding the biotech base further, Sir Philip is leading a fundraising campaign to realise the remaining £4 million to build the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research adjacent to the Wellcome Trust Biocentre. Work on the new build has started and the extension to the 'citadel of science' is expected to open in Spring 2005.
By Jenny Marra, Head of Press 01382 344910 j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk