WIREDGOV

Scotland has the talent, skills and expertise to become a global powerhouse for the multi-billion pound laser-enabled technology industry, External Affairs Minister Humza Yousaf has said.

Mr Yousaf made the comments on a visit to the Photonics Research Centre at Stanford University in California’s Silicon Valley during Scotland Week 2014.

The Minister met participants in the SU2P programme, a Scottish-US collaboration which aims to create commercial opportunities from the world-class research in this field taking place at four universities in Scotland.

Mr Yousaf said:

“Scotland’s laser industry is part of a booming worldwide business. Lasers are used in everything from mobile phones to medicine, barcode scanners to Blu-Ray players. They are becoming increasingly integral to our lives and the global optoelectronics industry – which includes laser-enabled technology – is predicted to be valued at more than $900 billion by 2015.

“Laser-enabled technology is already hugely important to the Scottish economy, worth more than £660 million and supporting high-value manufacturing, world-class research and highly skilled jobs.

“Scotland is a creative and innovative nation, and we have the talent, skills and expertise to take advantage of the opportunities offered by this growing market. We are proud to have both a strong academic base and a thriving laser industry that manufactures cutting edge technology which is exported the world over.

“The challenge now is to maximise the commercial potential of our world-leading academic success in this field, which is what the SU2P programme aims to achieve.”

Professor Allister Ferguson, Professor of Photonics at the University of Strathclyde, said,

“The SU2P link to Stanford has been of significant benefit to the Scottish Universities involved and to the local companies associated with the programme. It has inspired innovation and internationalisation and been transformative to careers for researchers visiting Stanford, and vice versa.

“With the recent grant of European funding SU2P has been able to extend to include 10 more Scottish based SMEs who are already benefiting from the opportunities that that the collaboration offers.”

Dr Thomas M. Baer, Executive Director of the Stanford Photonics Research Center said,

“Over the past four years the SU2P program has forged a strong link between Stanford University and the photonics scientific research and entrepreneurial communities in Scotland.

“SU2P has benefited greatly from the extensive support of Scottish Development International and Scottish Enterprise. We all look forward to building on the foundation provided by the SU2P program.”