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Research England seeks improved measures of research commercialisation and knowledge exchange, says Jessica Corner
Two events yesterday gave an opportunity for better understanding how higher education contributes to the UK’s agenda for economic growth.
First, the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) released the 2022-23 data from its Higher Education Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) survey.
These data show sustained success in spinning out new companies based on university intellectual property. The number of UK spinouts surviving for at least three years is up by 8.8 per cent. External investment into companies is also growing strongly, particularly at the cutting edge of research.
Fewer new spinouts are being formed, but—one purpose of HE-BCI data being to put the UK’s performance in a wider context—this may be an international trend. The same is true in the United States, for example.
Last year’s independent review of university spinouts set out the vital importance of university contributions to both research commercialisation and local and regional growth. Research England is playing a lead role in implementing the review’s recommendations.
The 2022-23 data will provide a baseline by which to judge the changes following the review. Further improvements to the data, helping to identify challenges and demonstrate success, will be a critical part of our work on delivering the review’s recommendations.
Spinout register
Yesterday’s second event was the launch of a consultation on changes to Hesa and HE-BCI. A key part of this is proposals for a UK register of spinout companies, developed in a partnership between Research England, Hesa and the University Commercialisation and Innovation (UCI) policy evidence unit at the University of Cambridge. Our aim is to provide better data through standardised approaches to following companies’ progress, while also reducing the burden of data collection on institutions.
More robust and complete data will be a step towards using the Knowledge Exchange Framework, and other improved data on funding outcomes, in the funding distributed through the Higher Education Innovation Fund.
By giving a first—and globally unique—description of the scale and scope of the businesses, technologies and economic impacts unlocked from universities, the register will also be an important demonstration of the power of UK research. Research England continues to work with other funding bodies to make this sort of sound, interoperable data available across the country.
We are also supporting universities to adopt the best practices recommended by the spinouts review. Institutions have until the end of May to sign up to this, and so be included on the first iteration of the published list of adoptees. Inclusion on the list will be a show of dynamism, and create opportunities to pursue new approaches and work with new partners, including government, to advance UK economic growth.
Tailwinds and headwinds
At the same time as government policies in response to the spinouts review are set to boost universities’ wider economic contribution, there are also headwinds on the ground, including residual impacts from Covid-19 and now financial pressures.
Higher education faces challenges to its financial stability, and there are cost-of-living pressures on business, local partners and the economy generally. These pressures may be reflected in early signs that universities are cutting back investment in intellectual property and commercialisation, with a fall in patenting activity.
While UK universities’ total income from knowledge exchange is growing, it has fallen in England. There is a decline in England in collaborative research income. We will investigate this further, considering the effects of both changes in public funding, such as the loss of EU structural funds, and financial pressures, including on business partners. This will include seeking advice from the National Centre for Universities and Business.
Working with UCI and Hesa, we will be launching a metrics work programme on local and regional knowledge exchange. We want to analyse trends in regeneration income—which for the first time this year includes the Shared Prosperity Fund—but also consider whether we have the right metrics to capture universities’ contributions to economic growth. These metrics will take account of R&D and innovation activity, as well as the employer engagement agenda, reflecting that HEIF is supported from both the research and education budgets.
In Research England’s current Strategic Development Plan, I set out my responsibility to develop further our systems-intelligence role and consider what more we can do to provide the best evidence for the value of our investments and the sector’s successes. Developments today are part of delivering the improved evidence and metrics needed to advance universities’ local, national and global contributions.
Jessica Corner is the executive chair of Research England
A version of this article also appeared in Research Fortnight