What contact it has with members of the scientific community to discuss barriers to participation in the commercialisation of their researc…

Ministers and officials in the Executive meet with the scientific community on a regular basis to discuss issues of interest including commercialisation. Along with officials from the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning and Rural Affairs Departments, I recently visited Glasgow University and the Roslin and Moredun Institutes where the discussions included the issue of commercialisation. The scientific community is also represented among the membership of the Knowledge Economy Taskforce, chaired by myself and which is considering barriers to commercialisation as part of its wider remit.Officials met recently with the Research Advisory Committee of the Committee of Scottish Higher Education Principals (COSHEP) and the Scottish Agricultural and Biological Research Institutes (SABRIs). Officials are also represented, along with Scottish Enterprise, COSHEP, the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) and the SABRIs, on the National Cluster Liaison Group.Along with COSHEP and SHEFC, the Executive is a founding member of Technology Ventures Scotland which seeks to promote and accelerate the commercialisation of science and technology in Scotland.