Universities UK is setting an ambition to help double the level of external investment flowing into UK university innovation by 2035.
The major intervention will create jobs, support the government’s investment-led growth agenda and boost economies and communities in every region.
The ambition – to reach £10 billion of external investment each year up from £5bn today – was unveiled by Universities UK at the UK Global R&D and Science Investment Summit in London this week. It would mean more than £100bn of external investment flowing into university spinouts, startups and social enterprises over a decade.
This is an area with high growth potential. In the 2024–25 academic year, there were 2,218 active spin-outs which are estimated to employ 48,734 people and had an estimated turnover of over £11.6bn. Since 2014-15, more than 48,000 student and staff start-up companies have emerged with the support of universities.
Growing concerns
However, the announcement comes amid growing concerns about slowing investment and that, while the UK produces world-leading research and breakthrough technologies, it is too often failing to scale innovative businesses in every corner of the country.
Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward said: “The East Midlands has always been a region of innovators, from world-leading university research to businesses shaping the industries of the future. We have the talent and ambition to drive growth, but we must do more to turn innovation into investment, good jobs and opportunities for communities across our region.
“That is why I welcome this commitment from Universities UK. Attracting investment, helping businesses to scale and creating long-term prosperity are central to my priorities as Mayor. By bringing together universities, investors and government, we can unlock the capital needed to grow innovative companies and create jobs here in the UK.
“The East Midlands is already helping lead this agenda, working with Midlands Innovation and its pioneering Invest in UK University R&D Midlands Campaign; and I look forward to working with partners across the country to ensure every region shares in the benefits of innovation-led growth.”
The commitment is a response from universities to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s calls in her Mais Lecture to double down on investment, drive growth and create jobs across the UK.
It will see universities use their reach locally, regionally and globally to convene investors, founders, business leaders, regional leaders including mayors, and government to create partnerships to double new inward investment into innovation in the next decade. It will tap into the enormous growth potential of university innovation investment, spreading the prosperity benefit across the UK.
Universities will play their part in ensuring regional economies across the UK feel the long-term benefits of this investment by working with stakeholders to ensure innovative companies – in a range of sectors including in the IS-8 growth-driving industries – can access global capital, scale their business and ultimately stay in the UK.
With the support of the Chancellor’s economic reforms and the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) mission to advance knowledge, improve lives and drive growth, these partnerships will help drive the real world, on-the-ground economic improvements that will help deliver the UK Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy.
Bold measures
Universities UK says this ambition can be achieved with bold measures such as:
- Working with Mayors and devolved nations to grow regional investment partnerships, with institutions working together to generate a pipeline of high-quality university-linked investment opportunities across the UK. Universities can leverage global connections to industry and alumni, supporting mayors and devolved nations to attract investment, drive growth and attract jobs into local economies;
- Working with UKRI to implement the Hickson review and the Independent Review of University Spin-out Companies, co-chaired by Prof Irene Tracey and Dr Andrew Williamson, to strengthen the investor-readiness of university spinouts;
- Working with government to support the spinout environment.
The announcement supports the Government’s wider focus on investment-led growth, as well as broader efforts across the research and innovation system to attract significantly greater levels of private capital alongside public R&D investment.
‘Global leader’
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “We are a global leader when it comes to research and development – with some of the best universities in the world helping shape the future.
“I’ve been clear about my plan to double down on investment, drive growth and back the industries of tomorrow. This shows that in action – unlocking billions in private investment, turning our world-class research into businesses that grow, scale and stay in the UK.”
“The countries that succeed over the next decade will be those that are best able to turn innovation into investment, productivity and globally competitive businesses.
“Universities have a critical role to play in that mission, and we need long-term targets and a plan to achieve them. That’s why we are creating a Future Innovators action plan to establish the UK as the most attractive place in the world to invest in and scale university startups and spinouts.
“Today the sector is committing to work with investors, founders and government to make the UK the best place in the world to start an innovative company, and to help double private investment into UK university innovation by 2035.
“This is about helping build the industries, technologies and companies that will drive long-term economic growth across the country.”
‘Backing brilliant British expertise’
“The UK is already home to five of Europe’s top 10 universities in terms of the value of spinout companies, meaning we’re already well placed to go from strength to strength and secure even more private backing for brilliant British expertise.”
Prof Tracey, University of Oxford vice-chancellor, said: “There is enormous untapped potential to commercialise more of the world-leading research that takes place within our universities. We are determined to play our part. So, with improved access to investment, as the Chancellor is delivering and through this ambitious commitment, alongside removal of the barriers that stifle growth, we can and will translate this research excellence into economic growth that benefits everyone in the UK.
“Creating more high growth companies that stay in the UK providing well paid jobs, relies on universities in every part of the country working closely with investors, the government and regional partners. If we get this right, we will make the UK an attractive place to invest and a world-leading innovation ecosystem built on our creative spirit.”
‘Significant contribution’
“Our world-class universities already make a significant contribution to the UK. In our experience, when the right infrastructure, investment and partnerships come together, the impact extends far beyond campus – supporting regional productivity, high-value jobs and driving wider economic growth across the UK.”
‘Unlock growth’
Dr Jani Shibuya, Hychor CEO and founder, said: “The UK has extraordinary strengths in research and IP generation with world-leading investment incentive schemes, but global competition for investment is intensifying where UK may be lagging behind in terms of quantity and speed.
“If Britain wants to build more globally significant companies, we need stronger and more attractive pathways between universities, founders, and investment – this means improving spin-out equity/royalty policies, grant allocations, capital access to early-stage founders, and government policies to make UK companies competitive on the global stage. This is why this agenda matters.”