In July 2025, Glasgow City Region was announced as one of three UK cities and regions to receive at least £30 million from the UK Government through the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund (LIPF). In October 2025, a further £20 million was announced bringing the total funding package to £50 million.
The LIPF will help to deliver game-changing local innovations in science in technology, supporting investment in local innovation strengths. It supports ‘triple-helix’ partnerships between civic institutions, business and universities to drive innovation-led economic growth, mobilise private and public investment, and strengthen local innovation ecosystems.
Glasgow City Region is focusing its LIPF support on the Health and Life Sciences cluster.
The GCR Health and Life Sciences (HLS) cluster is an established cluster, employing approximately 10,100 people and generating £4.36 billion in turnover, according to DSIT’s UK Innovation Clusters data
This cluster demonstrates distinct strengths across three key sectors: MedTech, BioTech, and Pharma & Biopharma, as identified by the GCR Intelligence Hub Innovation Clusters Baseline and validated by industry experts and key stakeholders.
The Region’s deep scientific expertise, advanced data infrastructure, and collaborative innovation ecosystem make it uniquely positioned to drive digitally powered Life Sciences innovation – where breakthroughs in health, medicine, and biotechnology are accelerated by data, AI and quantum computing.
LIPF Programmes
A programme to support the commercialisation of research and development (R&D), including the transfer of technology to industry, new product development, and partnering between research institutes and industry.
The complementary Cluster Skills Programme is a Region-wide programme which will support the current and future skills needs of the Health and Life Sciences cluster.
Glasgow City Region’s LIPF infrastructure programme aims to address the lack of lab space or other enabling infrastructure in the Region, which is currently acting as a barrier to the growth of the Region’s Health and Life Sciences cluster.
Open Call
In November 2025, the Region launched an open call for project proposals which align with these priorities – with a focus on R&D commercialisation such as product development, technology transfer, prototyping and securing patents.