Spinouts more successful than start-ups, report says

The government should establish a strategy for the commercialisation of research from UK universities, the intellectual property firm Anderson Law has said.

Nine out of ten of the university spinouts that received private investment between 2011 and 2015 have survived, according to figures published by the IP company on 3 April. This is a significantly higher success rate than among start-ups, 80 per cent of which fail within five years, it said.

Annual combined spending by the government and industry in UK university spinouts rose by £1.1 billion between 2011 and 2017, the report said. Engineering and physical sciences spinouts attracted the largest chunk of funding, receiving £7.6bn over that period. Arts and humanities spinouts, by contrast, received £300 million.