The campus was established in 2001 with a 12-hectare (30-acre) site to facilitate large-scale biomanufacturing, with the initial development costing around £15 million.[3] There are outline plans in place to expand the site with a further 1,400 square metres (15,000 sq ft) for a phase 2 project.[4][when?] The first facility on the campus was opened by Alba Bioscience, a subsidiary of Quotient, a company offering tests related to blood transfusion diagnostics.[5] The firm received a Queen's Award for Enterprise in 2016 for their work in Midlothian both at the BioCampus site and the nearby Pentlands science park.[3]
An evaluation in 2005 estimated that enterprise zones across Scotland had generated 58,000 full time jobs at a total public cost of £17,000 per ten-year job.[6] However, some commentators have criticised the tax breaks and financial support given to private companies through enterprise zones, highlighting evidence that very few new high-quality jobs are created with most of the jobs being transferred from other parts of the country.[7]
