EDINBURGH University has consolidated its position as Scotland’s leading research institution after attracting record levels of investment.
Figures released by the university yesterday showed it had been awarded £250 million in research funding for 2011-12, up 37 per cent from £183m the previous year.
The amount is a record for any Scottish university, beating the £249m awarded to Edinburgh in 2008-9.
The investment – won in competition with other universities and research centres – supports work across a range of disciplines, including medicine, veterinary medicine, science, engineering and the humanities.
The awards are made from a variety of sources, including government, industry, commerce and charities. The largest award was £12.6m by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to the university’s UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre.
Derek Waddell, chief executive of Edinburgh Research and Innovation, the university’s research and commercialisation office, said: “These record figures again show the strength and depth of the university’s research excellence, as we continue to maintain our position as one of the leading research universities in the United Kingdom.
“They demonstrate the vital role we play in helping to foster growth in the nation’s economy as we transfer academic knowledge, skills, expertise and intellectual property into the wider community.”
During the past year, staff and students at the university have created a total of 35 new companies.
The institution also filed 62 patents to protect new inventions by research staff, and a total of 51 licence agreements to allow commercial use of technologies developed on campus.