Analysis reveals the most successful spinout companies founded at UK universities since 1998, and which industry attracts the most investment.
This study was conducted by Intellectual property service and R&D tax credit specialists GovGrant. Material is available to re-publish, with credit (including link) to GovGrant. Please get in touch for additional information.
Facebook, Google, FedEx – some of the best-known global companies have been founded at universities. These also happen to be some of the most valuable companies in the world. Fuelled by Google’s success, its parent company Alphabet is now worth more than $1.6 trillion.
UK universities rank among the top universities globally, comprising four of the top 10, according to leading authority QS World University Rankings. UK institutions are renowned for world-changing innovation, particularly in fields such as pharmaceuticals, engineering and IT.
At GovGrant, we know that universities play a key role in transforming innovations into commercial success. Through careful research, we have identified which UK universities have the best track record of supporting new business, and can claim to be the UK’s top business spinout and innovation hubs.
University spinouts report
To gain insight into UK spinouts, this report – produced by our specialist research team at GovGrant – analysed data for companies founded between 1998 and 2018.
We analysed 957 spinouts, a sample that comprises £19.28 billion of capital invested, 4,489 deals and 1,907 investors. It tells us:
- The most successful companies founded at UK universities
- Top universities for commercialising innovation through spinouts
- Industries that attract the most spinout investment
- Who the top investors in university spinouts are
What is a spinout?
Commercialising academic innovation is usually done through a spinout. Their defining characteristic is that their core ‘product’ comes from university-owned intellectual property.
Startups that originate from universities, on the other hand, don’t use university intellectual property. They are founded by university employees or graduates who have been inspired by academic research.
Then there are student-owned companies and not-for-profit organisations that have no direct links to university research, but may have connections to university spinouts or startups.
University ranking data – which have had the most spinouts?
Valuation is just a small part of the UK university spinout success story. The sheer number of spinouts created by our universities is further enhancing the UK’s international reputation for innovation – and inspiring future academics.
Below are the top 10 UK universities by the number of spinouts they have solely produced, excluding spinouts that are partnerships between institutions. These are some of our leading innovation hubs.
Which universities produce the most spinouts?
Oxford (1) and Cambridge (2) are two universities with well-established, global reputations for the quality of their research. It also makes sense that there are two institutions – Imperial (3) and UCL (4) – from London, one of the world’s pre-eminent business capitals. Scottish universities are also well represented, with Edinburgh (joint 5) and Glasgow (joint 9) both featuring in the top 10.
Which universities have produced the most spinouts over the past decade?
Taking figures for the last decade, the top seven features the same universities. However, further down the list, the University of Strathclyde have worked their way into the top 10, having come just outside it prior to 2008. The real surprise with the latest figures is that the Royal College of Art comes in at number eight on the list. Its inclusion highlights how more innovation at universities is happening in new areas and isn’t just the preserve of traditionally scientific institutions.
Which university’s spinouts have the highest total value?
Accounting for almost 16% of the UK’s university spinouts, University of Oxford spinouts have a total value of £8.1 billion, with £3.1 billion by way of investment. Imperial College London is next on the list in terms of value (£2.7 billion) even though its startups make up less than 9% of the startup landscape, compared to the University of Cambridge, where more than 11% of startups have originated.
University College London completes the top four, with spinouts worth a total of £2.2 billion. After UCL, the figures drop off in terms of the total shares of spinout numbers and value.
When determining spinouts total values here, our data uses public valuation, last known private valuation and valuation when acquired/merged, all at time of data collection. The totals raised by spinouts, meanwhile, do not include merger & acquisition capital.
Which universities have the highest total value of spinouts?
What are the most successful companies founded at UK universities?
The top 10 UK spinout companies in the UK by valuation are worth approximately £9.8 billion. Of these 10, eight are in the healthcare industry, carrying out activities within drug discovery, diagnostic equipment, and therapeutic devices, highlighting the field’s immensely lucrative nature.
Top 20 spinouts by valuation
Top spot goes to Oxford Nanopore, a technology company (although it has healthcare applications) founded at the University of Oxford in 2005 and produces devices that analyse molecular structure. At number two is Ceres Power, an engineering firm that specialises in the creation of fuel cell technology and was founded in 2001 at Imperial College London. Next comes the first healthcare entry OxSight, a developer of smart glasses intended to cure patients suffering from sight impairment, which was founded in 2016 at the University of Oxford.
Unsurprisingly, the world-renowned University of Oxford university claims six spinouts in the top 10. Perhaps more surprising is the absence of spinouts from the University of Cambridge in the top 10, with their first entry, Inivata, down in 17th position. Collectively, companies from the University of Oxford in the top 10 are worth £6.03 billion, over 60% of the top 10’s total value.
If we look at just the last 10 years though, only four spinouts are from the University of Oxford (worth a total of £3.18 billion). There were two more from University College London founded in the last decade. Seven companies from the last 10 years were in the 1998-2008 list, signalling that spinouts have become more valuable in recent years.
The 10 most successful spinouts of the last decade
Which industries raise the most spinout capital?
Our report unearthed some interesting points regarding spinout areas raising capital, giving us a clearer picture of the UK spinouts landscape. It’s important to note here that capital raised and capital invested are different measures. Capital invested includes merger & acquisition deals, whereas capital raised does not. So, while the total capital invested in UK spinouts is £19.28 billion, the total capital raised is £12.07 billion.
Healthcare dominates the scene, accounting for 62% (£7.4 billion) of all capital raised and 46% (445) of the spinout cohort. IT comes second with 18% (£2.2 billion) of capital raised and 25% (242) of the spinouts.
Which industry groups attract the most investment?
- Close to half (£5.9 billion/49%) of all capital raised went to 265 (27% of the total) spinouts in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology
- More healthcare spinouts raised capital (£1.2 billion/10%) in the field of devices and supplies, a group of 132 (13.6%) companies
- There was slightly less raised by computer hardware spinouts (£1.1 billion/9.4%), who comprise only 50 (5.1%) companies
Going into more detail, which type of economic activity sees most investment?
- Within pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, 119 (12.2%) drug discovery spinouts account for £3.6 billion of capital raised (29.7%) and 114 (11.7%) biotechnology spinouts account for £2.1 billion (17.1%)
- In healthcare devices and supplies, 61 (6.3%) diagnostic equipment spinouts raised £666 million (5.5%) of capital and 28 (2.9%) therapeutic devices spinouts raised £383 million (3.2%)
- In terms of computer hardware, investment here is primarily made up of £1.06 billion (8.8%) capital raised by 37 (3.8%) electronic equipment and instruments spinouts
Verticals
- Verticals increasingly highlight the dominance of healthcare, with 313 (32.1%) spinouts in life sciences raising £7.8 billion (64.3%) and 103 (12.1%) oncology spinouts raising £2.7 billion (22.8%) of capital
- The prominence of 336 (34.5%) technology media and telecoms spinouts is also evident, with £3 billion (25%) of capital raised in this area
Which industries see the most spinout investment?
Who are the biggest investors in university spinouts?
Like Innovate UK, Horizon 2020 also provides public sector grants, but with funding from the European Union to secure Europe’s global competitiveness. In addition, Scottish Enterprise is also a government entity, but takes part in seed & venture capital rounds, as well as grant activities.
University-related investors make up the largest group of the top 10, with Oxford Sciences Innovation, Oxford Spin-out Equity Management, Cambridge Enterprise and SETsquared Partnership all claiming spots.
Gender quotas across public life continue to fuel debate in the UK, but what happened when the Norwegian Government required boards at publicly listed companies to appoint a minimum of 40% women?
Fifteen years on Thorhild Widvey, then cabinet minister for Oil and Energy, joins us to reflect on the legacy of this policy, and asks how we can extend participation of women into areas of leadership across private companies and senior positions in organisations.
The event will be followed by a networking drinks reception.
About the speaker:
Widvey is currently Chair of the Board at Statkraft, a leading hydropower company in the world and the largest renewable power generator in Europe. In 2013 she was appointed Minister of Culture for the Norwegian Government; she had previously served as Minster of Petroleum and Energy (2004 – 2005), State Secretary for Foreign Affairs (2003 – 2005), State Secretary for Fisheries (2002 – 2003). Widvey has served on more than 50 boards of companies, in private and public sectors, including Hitec Vision AS (2006 to 2015); ENI Norway AS (2007 to 2015), Aker Drilling ASA (2006 to 2005), Oslo Havn KF (2012 to 2015), Aker Philadelphia Shipyard AS (2011 to 2015) and Sjømannskirken (Norwegian Church Abroad) (2006 to 2015).
Event details:
Venue: University of Edinburgh Business School
Date: Wednesday 11 October, 2017
Time: 18:00 – 19:00, followed by a networking drinks reception
Cost: FREE
Contact: 0131 651 5326 or events@business-school.ed.ac.uk
Reserve your place here: https://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/event/beyond-business-thorhild-widvey
Come and meet University of Edinburgh Business School students and critique their business insights on 1st November
Each year our first year undergraduates carry out a team-based project to analyse a business, using tools that will be familiar to many in business such as Strategic Groups and SWOT analysis. The output is an event in our Playfair Library, on 1st November, where the teams display their analysis in the form of a poster.
We welcome members of the business community to take part in this event by coming along to discuss the posters with their student teams and provide informal feedback and advice. This event is part of the student’s ‘Introduction to Business’ module.
The poster session runs throughout the day but you could simply come along to all or some of the morning or afternoon session (each session will have around 25 teams of five students).
If you are interested, please contact Aidan Hetherington, Corporate Engagement Manager, on aidan.hetherington@ed.ac.uk to receive further details.
Public guest speaker event on 17 October at 6.30pm, at the University of Edinburgh Business School
The Business School’s Entrepreneurship Club invites you to find out about how entrepreneurs can most effectively promote themselves on a limited budget.
This event is free and open to all. Michelle Brown of Michelle Brown PR makes a welcome return to the Eclub to draw upon her 20+ years of experience in the PR industry to give insights into how entrepreneurs can make the most of PR.
In her presentation, Michelle will cover the following points including, how to create a PR story and stand out from the crowd, how the media works and how to maximise exposure across all media platforms, on a limited budget. She will also illustrate her talk with case studies and will answer questions from the floor.
Michelle will be joined by Ali Wyllie, Founder of Run the Sights who will provide examples of a good PR story.
To register for this, and any other free event at the Business school please visit https://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/about/events
A majority of those in England who voted for the UK to leave the European Union are willing to risk the breakup of the UK to make Brexit happen, according to new research from Cardiff University and the University of Edinburgh, released today [Sunday 1st October].
Eighty-eight per cent of leave voters felt that a ‘yes’ vote in a second referendum on Scottish independence was an acceptable price to pay in order to “take back control.” A similarly high proportion, 81%, also felt that destabilising the Northern Ireland peace process would be worthwhile to see the UK exit the European Union.
The findings, taken from the latest Future of England survey, will be presented tomorrow, Monday 2nd October, at a fringe meeting of the Conservative Party’s Annual Conference in Manchester.
Conservative supporting leave voters are also more likely to countenance the breakup of the UK with 92% prepared to accept Scotland voting for independence (compared to 78% of Labour supporting leave voters). By the same token, 87% of Conservative supporting leave voters would be willing to risk jeopardising Northern Ireland’s peace process (compared to 67% of Labour supporting Leave voters).
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Professor Ailsa Henderson, Professor of Political Science at the University of Edinburgh, said:
“It’s evident from the data just how high a price many leave voters would be willing to pay to make Brexit a success. What’s perhaps most remarkable is the substantial proportion of Conservative supporters that are willing to risk the breakup of the UK to see Brexit happen”.
Professor Richard Wyn Jones, Director of Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre, added:
“For well over a century, the Conservative and Unionist Party has been the party most associated with defending the Union. But with such a high proportion of the party’s supporters willing to sacrifice the Union to ‘take back control’, it might well be time to ask whether the party still lives up to that name”.
Labour is now the political party most trusted by voters in England to represent English interests, according to new research from Cardiff University and the University of Edinburgh, released today [Sunday 24th September].
The latest evidence is a marked departure from previous surveys which have suggested a lingering dissatisfaction among English voters with Labour’s response to the ‘English Question’.
The findings, taken from the latest Future of England survey, will be presented tomorrow, Monday 25th September, at a fringe meeting of the Labour Party’s Annual Conference in Brighton.
Almost a third of those surveyed (31%) identified the Labour Party as the party best positioned to stand up for England, compared to 24% who identified the Conservatives and just 9% who opted for UKIP. The Liberal Democrats scored the lowest of any major political party, with just 4%.
This is a significant change from previous findings, which saw UKIP as the most trusted defender of English interests in 2016, while in 2015 the Conservatives enjoyed a substantial lead in the aftermath of a general election campaign where the party successfully mobilised English sentiment over fears of the SNP holding the balance of power in a hung parliament.
Despite the introduction of ‘English Votes for English Laws’ (EVEL), a Conservative policy designed to protect exclusively English law-making from external influence, there is a perception among voters that the UK Conservative government is insufficiently committed to introducing change for England. A majority of respondents (54%) felt there has been very little or no progress in this area, compared to perceptions of an enhanced devolution settlement for Scotland. Accordingly, a sizeable proportion of respondents want to see further action to enhance England’s political voice.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Professor Richard Wyn Jones, Director of Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre, said:
“Just two years ago the Conservatives successfully played into fears of a Labour-SNP coalition deal to project themselves as the party best placed to defend English interests. Now the latest evidence suggests that the tables have turned, with Labour seen as most likely to give England its political voice. The challenge for the Labour Party is to capitalise on this trust and craft a popular, sustainable solution to these demands without losing its appeal across the UK as a whole”.
Professor Ailsa Henderson, Professor of Political Science at the University of Edinburgh, added:
“What’s clear is that despite the introduction of English Votes for English Laws, voters in England don’t think it has happened, with less than one percent thinking that the government has made a lot of progress on EVEL. It’s also clear that voters believe this is down to a lack of government commitment. Since this was the governing party’s main proposal for dealing with English governance, it’s perhaps not surprising that voters now believe another party is best able to stand up for England.”
Everyone that engages with a business forms an opinion based on their experience. Their opinion is the brand, and in this highly connected and communicative world, reputation is in their hands.
The University of Edinburgh Business School and Emperor are hosting an event on the 10th of October exploring how to craft, launch and sustain a successful employer brand.
With speakers from AG Barr, RBS and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), this event specifically examines the role of the employer brand in attracting and retaining the right candidates, making good hiring decisions and delivering a candidate experience to positively impact brand reputation. Leadership, HR and communications professionals, will benefit from key learnings taken from new market research, real world case studies, insightful presentations and the opportunity to engage with peers.
This is a complimentary event but places are limited so please register to secure a place at https://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/event/developing-a-sustainable-employer-brand
Event details:
Tuesday 10 October 2017
17.30 – 20.15 (tea, coffee and networking from 17.00)
University of Edinburgh Business School
29 Buccleuch Place
Edinburgh EH8 9JS
The University of Edinburgh Business School runs a postgraduate programme in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
As part of the course the students work as a team of consultants to tackle the real-world challenges faced by organisations to consider approaches to managing innovation. The host organisation can be any size, private/public or third sector.
The students are tasked with identifying opportunities for innovation, selecting those that can be pursued, implementing these ideas into new products, services, processes and activities, technologies or business models, and designing a way to generate and capture value.
The projects are supervised by our academic colleagues. Past company hosts often find it a novel way to have some free consultancy done, looking at challenges from a slightly different perspective.
If this is something your organisation could be interested in, please contact Aidan Hetherington, Corporate Engagement Manager, on Aidan.Hetherington@ed.ac.uk or 0131 650 9841 for an initial chat.
The School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh will host an interactive seminar on September 18, from 3pm – 5:30pm, titled “From Risk to Resilience in Climate Change: Creating Opportunities!”
Resilience is a buzz-word when it comes to preparing for climate change and its consequences.
While many resilience-related activities are policy-oriented, this highly interactive seminar is part of a range of Solution-Finding Sessions that all use the DIEM Focused Feedback Methodology: a ‘hands-on’ approach to collect practical recommendations.
After an introduction to set the stage, the DIEM’s Focused Feedback Methodology pulls you inside a gripping ‘What If…?’ flooding scenario and creates a sense of co-ownership among the teams who will then be tasked with formulating their own conclusions and corresponding recommendations on what to do (better) during four Critical Moments-in-Time in the scenario.
Within a month of the seminar, participants will also receive a report which will summarize the results of the feedback and include a trend-analysis and some benchmarking information. DIEM’s international jury will select best recommendations and team performance.
Presenter: Eelco H. Dykstra, M.D – – The Hague, Netherlands;
• 11th Brunel Internationale Lecturer
• Director of DIEM, Expert Network and Primary Research Group
Host: Professor Gordon Masterton OBE, Chair of Future Infrastructure
How to apply: By e-mail to: eelco.dykstra@diem.nu or diemthehague@gmail.com
Applications are welcome from both individual participants as well as from pre-established teams.
Cost: £45 for students, £75 for non-students.
Please note that your participation and payment also entitles you to apply for a one-year membership in the DIEM Network in the Student/Young Professional¹ or Subscriber² categories.
¹ Other than participating in the Online Knowledge Exchange (OKE) program (access to information and out-of-network contacts), DIEM operates a mentoring program in which students and young professionals can be matched with and connected to selected DIEM Partners and Experts
² Subscribers receive news, updates and can submit specific questions to our Partners and Experts. Groups of Subscribers may also be asked to function as a ‘review board’ to assess new approaches, ideas, or recommendations.
A message from the University of Edinburgh Business School;
We are always very interested in reaching out to organisations to engage with them. Engaging with organisations means we are able to get students working on real-life challenges whilst offering the organisations themselves the opportunity to utilise the talent that the university has to offer.
How to Engage
If you would like more detail on any of the information above or indeed, any other engagement you might be interested in then please don’t hesitate to get in touch: Tom Parnell (tom.parnell@ed.ac.uk)
