Wide shot of the Glibert Scott Building and tower looking south from the University library

New treatments for rheumatoid arthritis and developing cutting-edge microchips for quantum computers are among nine projects that have been awarded a share of £280,000 to encourage commercial enterprise among staff and researchers at the University of Glasgow. 

The Innovation Cluster Development Fund was launched in the New Year to feed a pipeline of new and innovative ventures coming out of the campus that have potential to grow and establish themselves as new businesses. 

Interest was so strong in the new funding stream that the initiative was many times oversubscribed and is indicative of the high volume of innovation activity under way across the institution. 

The projects selected for funding all fit broadly into emerging strategic clusters for the University, with four projects from the life sciences, three in critical technology (including net zero) and one each in the creative arts and social innovation.

The early-stage fund enables staff and projects to focus on the development of innovative ideas that may have potential for a spin-out venture or worthy of exploration through other commercialisation routes. 

The hope now is that the projects will deliver at pace and progress to the next stage of the journey towards realising their business potential. 

One of the successful projects is looking at using advanced medicinal chemistry and cellular biology techniques to develop a new type of drug candidate for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. 

Project lead Pat Gunning, Professor of Molecular Therapeutics (Molecular Biosciences) at the University, said: “We are very excited to have been awarded funds to advance our translational medicinal chemistry programme. The funds will fast-track our collaborative programme and identify a safer, more selective, preclinical candidate for rheumatoid arthritis.” 

Another project is developing semiconductor microchips capable of operating at extremely low temperatures to enable scalable quantum computers, fostering rapid advancements in emerging fields. These include drug development, cybersecurity, manufacturing and to help mitigate the immense energy used in datacentres as AI tools demand ever-greater capacity. 

Project lead Robert Graham, a research associate at the University, said: “The team and I are very excited to have received support from the Innovation Cluster Development Fund. This will allow our technology to pass through the final step of development, turning it from prototype into a product, enabling its commercial use by Quantum system manufacturers and making it the bedrock of a spinout company.” 

In Arts & Humanities, the recently incorporated spin-out Design Otherwise is working to improve inclusion and social justice in the cultural economy, translating leading academic expertise into practical solutions for industry and policy. 

Professor Doris Ruth Eikhof, CEO & Creative Director of Design Otherwise, said: “The ICDF award will allow us to develop our Everyday Diversity app, which provides an ‘inclusion solution in your pocket’ for busy screen professionals. The award is a much-welcome support for us to design for impact, one project at a time.” 

Uzma Khan, Vice Principal for Economic Development & Innovation at the University of Glasgow, said: "It’s hugely encouraging to see such a strong cohort of proposals coming forward from a wide range of disciplines and clusters, that demonstrate commercialisation potential.  

“The overwhelming number of applications received is testament to both the breadth and depth of our research strengths at the University of Glasgow, and our appetite to support translation research and innovative activity. 

“We look forward to supporting these projects through the fund in the coming months and working with the teams to help progress their businesses to the next stage of their development and ambition – delivering growth in the City region economy.” 

The Innovation Cluster Development Fund is supported by the UK Government and Glasgow City Council through Shared Prosperity Funding, and the Scottish Funding Council’s Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Funding. 

The University of Glasgow is a world top 100 University (THE, QS) and the Times and Sunday Times Good University of the Year 2022, and a member of the prestigious Russell Group of leading UK Universities with an average annual research income since 2020-21 of £203m. 

In 2024, the University’s top six spin-out companies raised investment of more than £60 million, creating 250 jobs across a range of commercial and spin-out activity, and awarded more than £600,000 to 23 projects with commercial or spin-out potential as part of major funding drives in Medtech and the Arts and Humanities. 

 

List of Projects/ Principal Investigators/ Cluster

  • AI-Enhanced Tumour Segmentation with Uncertainty Quantification: A PET/CT reporting tool for NHSGGC and wider industry - Prof Surajit Ray - Life Sciences

  • Covalent HDAC inhibitors for prevention of remission in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis - Prof Pat Gunning (& Prof Carl Goodyear) - Life Sciences
  • Cryogenic Packaging Development for Quantum Technologies - Wridhdhisom Karar (c/o Prof Martin Weides) - Critical Technologies

  • Developing Design Otherwise C.I.C - Prof Doris Ruth Eikhof - Creative
  • Machine Learning Driven Bone Segmentation for Fracture Surgery Planning - Prof Jon Cooper - Life Sciences & Engineering

  • Create, make and innovate - Prof Karen Lury - Creative & Social Innovation
  • Route to Market: Rapid Pathogen Diagnosis - Prof Huabing Yin - Life Sciences & Engineering

  • Silicon chip cooling for datacentres - Bernard Cooper - Critical Technologies & Net Zero 
  • Unlocking the commercial potential of cryogenic semiconductor systems – Robert Graham - Critical Technologies

First published: 7 March 2025

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