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Research to Riches Entrepreneurial Impact Ranking 2019 Measuring the success of UK universities in converting research into successful companies 1 Introduction Measuring the commercial effectiveness of the UK’s universities The UK’s academic institutions collectively to improve its As the UK’s Industrial Strategy are world renowned, which is commercialisation. The UK has places a clear emphasis on reflected in ground-breaking produced a host of successful academic entrepreneurialism achievements such as the university spinouts, but there are as a driver of economic growth, discovery of DNA, the jet engine many unrealised opportunities the Entrepreneurial Impact and the world’s first electronic that have been left in labs or Ranking aims to bring all key programmable computer. The got lost on their funding journey. stakeholders together for the UK UK ranks third with the number These could be worth trillions economy to reap the benefits of of PhDs it produces (behind of pounds to the UK economy. our academic excellence. USA and Germany)1 and third The Entrepreneurial Impact in the publication of academic Ranking is an index of the The Entrepreneurial papers (behind USA and China).2 universities that are leading Over many decades, work by Impact Ranking provides the way in creating and brilliant minds in science and insights into which commercialising spinouts. medicine has resulted in the In quantifying their impact, it universities are best at UK coming second only to the creates a framework for further USA for Nobel prizes. nurturing research- transparency, collaboration and However, while our strength lies improvement throughout the based innovation. in academic research, there ecosystem. are many steps we could take In this report we refer to a university spinout as a registered company set up to exploit intellectual property that has originated from within a university. 1 Based on OECD (2015), OECD Education at a Glance 2015: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2015-en 2 Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), International Comparison of the UK research base 2019, – https://www.gov.uk/ government/publications/international-comparison-of-the-uk-research-base-2019 International Comparison of the UK research base, 2019 2 Spinout success stories Over the last 20 years, the UK’s academic institutions have shown that they can produce highly successful new companies operating in science and technology: Name: Name: Oxford Nanopore Technologies ARM Holdings University: University: Oxford University University of Cambridge Speciality: Speciality: DNA sequencing A designer of smartphone chips Founded: Founded: 2005 1990 Raised £50 million at a £1.7 billion post- Acquired by Japanese firm Softbank money valuation1 in 2018. for £24 billion in 2016. Name: Name: Ziylo Abcam Plc University: University: University of Bristol University of Cambridge Speciality: Speciality: Developed glucose binding molecules One of the world’s leading producers for the treatment of diabetes of antibodies Founded: Founded: 2014 1998 Sold to Novo Nordisk for £623 million A global business exporting to some in 2018. 140 countries with a market capitalisation of £2.3 billion. Turning research and science into lucrative companies is an art that has been mastered by some universities better than others. Several reviews (e.g. McMillan, 2016 & Lambert, 2003) have all agreed that there is room for improvement in the UK’s approach to commercialisation of research. The Entrepreneurial Impact Ranking is a benchmark of the universities that are leading the way in capitalising upon the economic potential of academic research. 1 Pitchbook 3 The success of leading universities in the USA in creating commercial value from academic research offers an indication as to the opportunity the UK could capitalise on. 26,000 US$2 trillion Research by the Massachusetts Institute of With a combined annual company turnover Technology has been the genesis for some of US$2 trillion. 26,000 companies. 65% 3.3 million In nominal terms, that represents 65% of These have created 3.3 million jobs. UK annual GDP from just one university. Source: https://www.kauffman.org/what-we-do/research/2009/08/entrepreneurial-impact-the-role-of-mit Entrepreneurial Impact: The Role of MIT: https://www.kauffman.org/what-we-do/research/2009/08/entrepreneurial- impact-the-role-of-mit 4 Measuring universities’ impact The Entrepreneurial Impact Data was sourced exclusively benchmark for understanding Ranking measures UK universities’ from the Higher Education relative performance in creating effectiveness in terms of their Statistics Agency, and there are new spinout opportunities. The production of intellectual property, no subjective or opinion-based Entrepreneurial Impact Ranking creation of spinout companies measures. The ranking is based takes an investor’s perspective and successful exits from such on the data points below, put in that it identifies the UK’s spinout companies, relative to together using data aggregated universities that produce the most their total funding. from 2009–2018. The aggregation successful spinout companies is necessary as startups, relative to their total funding. Taking its foundation from particularly spinouts, take time established academic studies to build and develop into on research commercialisation, successful companies. The combination of data the Entrepreneurial Impact points makes this the Ranking measures the most The Entrepreneurial Impact important data points that Ranking differs from any others most comprehensive influence the creation of spinout because it focuses entirely on ranking of universities: a companies from universities. universities’ capacity to produce quality, investor-ready spinout true reflection of which companies. As such, it offers a universities are punching above their weight. Data points included are: 1. Total funding per university 2. Total spinouts created per university 3. Total disclosures per university 4. Total patents per university 5. Total sales from spinouts per university 5 Entrepreneurial Impact Ranking – the results 6 #1 Queen’s University Belfast Over the period measured, Queen’s University Belfast has been found to be the most effective in terms of its production of spinout companies and successful exits, relative to the total funding received. Through QUBIS, the commercialisation arm of Queen’s, the university has had a number of notable successes such as Kainos, Andor Technology and Fusion Antibodies, all of whom have been listed on the London Stock Exchange. Andor Technology was subsequently purchased by Oxford Instruments in 2013 for £176 million. Photo: Queen’s University 7 Entrepreneurial Impact Ranking 2019 - Top 10 1. Queen’s University Belfast 6. The University of Dundee 2. The University of Cambridge 7. The University of Nottingham 3. Cardiff University 8. King’s College London 4. Queen Mary University of London 9. The University of Oxford 5. The University of Leeds 10. Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine 8 Entrepreneurial Impact Ranking 2019 Rank University name EIR score Rank University name EIR score 1 The Queen’s University of Belfast 112.31 26 The University of Bristol 55.48 2 The University of Cambridge 95.10 27 Glasgow Caledonian University 53.32 3 Cardiff University 86.14 28 The University of Leicester 53.26 4 Queen Mary University of 85.79 29 The University of Exeter 53.04 London 30 Loughborough University 52.37 5 The University of Leeds 81.21 31 The University of Southampton 51.58 6 The University of Dundee 80.39 32 The University of Sunderland 47.55 7 University of Nottingham 79.01 33 The University of Birmingham 46.26 8 King's College London 72.99 34 Coventry University 40.76 9 The University of Oxford 72.54 35 The Institute of Cancer 35.31 10 Imperial College of Science, 68.56 Research Technology and Medicine 36 The University of Sheffield 29.54 11 The University of York 67.71 37 Royal College of Art 29.42 12 The University of Aberdeen 62.82 38 University of Plymouth 29.40 13 Royal Holloway and Bedford 60.99 New College 39 Oxford Brookes University 28.87 14 University of Ulster 59.87 40 Edinburgh Napier University 28.74 15 University of South Wales 59.35 41 St George's, University of London 28.70 16 The University of Manchester 59.26 42 Staffordshire University 28.58 17 University of Durham 58.25 43 The University of 28.44 Wolverhampton 18 University College London 57.89 44 The Royal Veterinary College 28.26 19 The University of Strathclyde 57.4 6 45 Middlesex University 28.23 20 The University of Glasgow 57.17 46 The Manchester Metropolitan 28.18 21 The University of Bradford 56.51 University 22 The University of Salford 56.33 47 University of the Arts, London 27.95 23 The University of Warwick 55.86 48 Aston University 27.95 24 The University of Bath 55.78 49 City, University of London 27.91 25 The University of East Anglia 55.64 50 The Robert Gordon University 27.85 The numeric score attributed to each university is formed from the combination of the following data points (all publicly available and sourced from the Higher Education Statistics Agency): total funding per university, total spinouts created per university, total disclosures per university, total patents per university, total sales from spinouts per university. The Top 100 UK universities by EIR Score are included in the Entrepreneurial Impact Ranking. 9 Rank University name EIR score Rank University name EIR score 51 Cranfield University 27.76 76 The University