Three new centres dedicated to creating more Scottish technology opportunities have been announced by First Minister Jack McConnell.

The Scottish Executive is to spend �450m over the next 10 years on attempting to turn more university research into businesses.

The move would see the creation of thousands of high quality jobs in Scotland.

Mr McConnell said the Intermediary Technology Institutes (ITIs) are not a short-term measure, and tangible results are not expected for 10 years.

The three facilities are planned for Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen.

The Dundee facility "will enhance research"

Glasgow's centre will concentrate on communciations and digital media, Dundee's will focus on life sciences and Aberdeen's on energy.

The first minister said each of the ITIs will have a core of 15 to 20 people working closely with universities and businesses.

The initial target is to have 75 fast growing spin-out companies within 10 years.

Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Dundee, Sir Alan Langlands, said the ITIs were "good news" for Scotland.

He said: "The ITI for life sciences in Dundee will further enhance the strong research networks that the university has established.

High-risk project

"The university is working in Tayside with eight of the world's top 10 pharmaceutical companies resulting in employment of over 2,000 people locally in biotechnology and life sciences research.

Mr Langlands said in the last year, four companies have spun out of Dundee University research with another 20 in the pipeline.

Scottish Enterprise, the government quango responsible for economic development, views the institutes as one of its greatest achievements this year.

They are part of the move away from relying on foreign inward investors towards more high-growth Scottish firms.

It is a high risk project which will run for the next 10 to 15 years.

And it will be at least that long before Scottish Enterprise knows whether its multi-million pound gamble has paid off.