CUTTING-EDGE Scottish research is to be made available to businesses and entrepreneurs under a ground-breaking new initiative to help lift the economy out of recession.

Technological advances by Scottish academics will be posted on a new national website where businesses can access them quickly. Universities have also developed a new single contract to ensure that negotiations between universities and businesses over new inventions are speeded up.

The move comes after the Scottish Government urged universities to offer their cutting-edge research to businesses and entrepreneurs free of charge as part of efforts to boost the economy.

Michael Russell, the Education Secretary, said the move would ensure all Scots were able to benefit from research developments at institutions funded by the taxpayer.

His comments came just months after a pioneering move by Glasgow University to offer intellectual property – including the latest medical and scientific research – to businesses and entrepreneurs free of charge.

In a recent letter to the Scottish Funding Council, which administers Government funding of universities, Mr Russell said all institutions should consider doing the same.

The latest initiative from Universities Scotland, which represents principals, does not go that far.

However, Professor Seamus McDaid, the organisation’s convener, said it marked a significant shift towards making the intellectual property of universities more widely accessible.

“Scotland’s universities have a strong track record when it comes to collaborating on research and knowledge exchange but we want to keep building on that,” he said.

“Coming together around a single set of contracts for commercialisation is a bold step which has the potential to streamline the process each time a business wants to work with a university to exploit knowledge. We’re not aware of any universities in any other country working together in this way.”

He added: “Scotland has a great reputation for its research at home and abroad and universities are keen to do all they can to make businesses aware of opportunities to exploit this.

“The website brings together opportunities from all of Scotland’s universities in one place.”

Mr Russell welcomed the move, saying: “The Government’s economic strategy sets Scotland the challenge of stimulating innovation and building on existing investments in research and in knowledge exchange.”