Edinburgh BioQuarter

BioQuarter is a partnership with four of Scotland’s most prominent organisations - the City of Edinburgh Council, NHS Lothian, Scottish Enterprise and the University of Edinburgh.

Over the past three decades there has been over £600m investment in capital developments. BioQuarter has generated an estimated £2.72 billion in gross value added[3] from its research, clinical and commercial activities, and a further £320 million from its development.

In 1997, the Scottish Government obtained planning permission for land in the Little France area of Edinburgh for a new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and it was procured under a Private Finance Initiative contract in 1998. This allowed the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh’s Medical School to relocate from their historic sites in Edinburgh city centre.[4]

Development commenced immediately and in 2002 NHS Lothian opened the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, a major acute teaching hospital. At the same time the University of Edinburgh completed its first phase of relocation of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine with the move of medical teaching and research to the adjacent Chancellor’s Building.[5]

In 2004 Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s economic development agency, had acquired the surrounding land with a view to establishing one of Europe’s leading locations for life sciences companies. In 2007, following completion of a series of land deals which cleared a 55-acre site for development adjacent to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, launched the creation of Edinburgh BioQuarter.[6]

This was followed in 2006 by The Queens Medical Research Institute (QMRI), with the aim of addressing major disease challenges in Cardiovascular Science, Inflammation Research, Regenerative Medicine and Reproductive Health and the Centre for Regenerative Medicine, officially opened by the Princess Royal, dedicated to the study and development of new regenerative treatments for human diseases [7] and stem cell research to find new therapies for conditions including multiple sclerosis and heart and liver disease.[8][9][10] The QMRI also houses part of the Edinburgh Imaging Facility.

In August 2010, British author J.K Rowling endowed research at BioQuarter with a £10 million gift to create the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic, in memory of her mother who died in 1990 from complications related to multiple sclerosis. The Clinic was officially opened in October 2013.[11]

The first commercial facility on BioQuarter, NINE - Life Sciences Innovation Centre, was established in 2012 to house burgeoning spinouts and startup life sciences companies;[12] this was joined in 2016 by commercial modular facilities in the form of BioCube 1 and BioCube 2.

By 2035, BioQuarter will be a "Health Innovation District"[13] - a new mixed use, urban neighbourhood of Edinburgh.

With plans to expand the city’s tram network to BioQuarter by 2030,[14] the development of the Health Innovation District will support an estimated 9,000 new jobs.

The pipeline of academic and clinical developments include the Usher Institute[15] (due to open in 2024), co-location of Biomedical and Medical Teaching and NHS Lothian’s Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion.

In 2022, a new multi-million pound research programme to develop treatments for lung infections such as COVID-19 and future pandemics was announced.[16]

Companies [17] based on Edinburgh BioQuarter include:

• RoslinCT - GMP contract manufacturing and development organisation (CMDO), originally founded as Roslin Cells in 2006.[18]
• Fios Genomics – genomic and bioinformatics data analysis services for drug discovery & development.[19]
• Concept Life Sciences - pre-clinical Contract Research Organisation (CRO) and acquired by Concept Life Sciences, a Malvern Panalytical brand, in 2020.
• Calcivis - dentistry imaging system [20]
• Edinburgh Molecular Imaging - clinical phase biotechnology company [21]
• Galecto, Inc. – biotech developing small molecules for the treatment of severe diseases, including fibrosis, cancer, and inflammation [22]
• LifeArc - UK registered and self-funding charity, collaborating with scientists on diagnostics and therapies.
• Resolution Therapeutics - developing macrophage cell therapies to treat diseases characterised by life-threatening inflammatory organ damage [23]

• Midlothian BioCampus, a nearby life sciences enterprise area
• Inverness Campus, Highland

55°55′19″N 3°08′11″W