By Ian Findlay, industrial reporter

DUNDEE UNIVERSITY principal and vice-chancellor Sir Alan Langlands yesterday stressed the importance to Scotland’s economy of investment in basic research.

Shortly before leaving for Toulouse and discussions over a tie-up between a cancer research institute in the French city and Dundee, he told delegates at a conference in St Andrews, “Stop investing in higher learning at your peril.”

He added, “Universities in Scotland do add value in terms of economic, social and cultural development and will continue to do so if two things are sustained—the value of higher learning and the ethos of investing in basic research.”

He was addressing the 35th annual forum of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry at St Andrews Bay Hotel and Conference Centre.

Universities north of the border were probably worth £3 billion to the Scottish economy annually, equivalent to about 5% of the country’s gross domestic product. Sales overseas from Scotland’s universities were worth about 9% of the country’s exports.

Dundee University was involved in a £200 million investment programme on its campus, of which £55 million was in life sciences and a range of new business.

The university constantly tried to complete the “virtuous circle” that included investment and commercialisation of research work. However, nothing would work unless there was adequate funding for high quality basic research and early stage development.

Scottish Enterprise had done a “fantastic job” for Scotland and universities on this issue.

As part of the tie-up between cancer research institutes in Toulouse and Dundee, leading cancer scientist Professor Sir David Lane, based in Singapore but still with strong links to Dundee University, was due to receive an award in the French city last night.

Some 250 delegates from business, politics, education, the arts and other sectors across Scotland attended this year’s SCDI forum, Adding Value: Sustaining Value.

Also among the main speakers yesterday was the man who will next month take over as the chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Tom McKillop, who said investment in research and development as a proportion of GDP was behind most developed countries and way behind the US.

Of the money being invested in R&D, about half was going into pharmaceuticals—and the track record of turning that R&D into commercial products was poor. Scotland was “the slowest adopter of innovation in health of any developed country in the world.”