Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon has launched a technology commercialising programme involving Scottish universities in partnership with universities in California.
The aim of the programme, called SU2P, is to take greater commercial advantage of university research in the areas of lasers, optics and semiconductors.
It has been established through a £1.6m grant from Research Councils UK.
It has also received £99,000 from the Scottish Funding Council and £250,000 from Scottish Enterprise. All of these awards are over three years.
The University of Strathclyde is leading the collaboration, which also includes the Universities of St Andrews, Heriot-Watt and Glasgow, Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology.
“It is great to see the University of Strathclyde leading this collaboration between Scottish and American institutions. This programme has the potential to benefit Scotland immensely through the creation of new businesses and by strengthening our academic-industry links both here and with the US,” said Sturgeon.
The three-year programme is designed to create new high tech businesses in Scotland and to build commercial links with the US. Areas of interest include life sciences, renewable energy, communication technologies and semiconductors.
Another aspect of the programme is to enable young researchers to work in laboratories in California. Three SU2P Entrepreneurial Fellows are currently spending a year gaining valuable experience at Stanford.
One of the fellows is developing a retinal prosthesis that may one day restore vision, while a second is working on techniques for stem cell imaging and the third is developing an infrared laser for applications in bioengineering.
Professor Allister Ferguson, Deputy Principal of Strathclyde and Principal Investigator in the partnership, said: "It offers opportunities for innovative, multidisciplinary research, interdisciplinary working, collaboration with national and international partners and industrial links- all areas where we excel."