Universities use additional HEIF funds for commercialisation

Research England has published initial indications of how universities are using the additional Higher Education Innovation Funding allocated as part of the government’s industrial strategy.

Uses of these so-called “uplift allocations” have been “largely focused on commercialisation activities”, Research England says in a report published on 19 February. Such activities include the exploitation of university intellectual property through licensing or the formation of spin-off companies, and the forming of R&D partnerships with businesses.

“Overall we can say that the industrial strategy uplift appears to have been used appropriately to support the commercialisation system,” the report said. “We will consider the appropriateness of the expenditures of individual universities as part of our assessment of the next round of institutional strategies and our HEIF evaluation.”