The impacts of university research are many and varied. We can see impact in how research is used or cited in other academic research, or in the way that is translated into tangible products or services such as: patents, new businesses, or in how it is licensed for businesses or other organisations to use.
UK universities produce high impact research
UK research is consistently judged to be exceeding expectations. The field-weighted citation impact (FWCI) shows how academic citations compare. A score of 1 means that a country’s citations are in line with the global average. In 2020, the UK’s FWCI score was 1.57. This ranked first out of G7 countries and was higher than the OECD and EU totals (1.14 and 1.17 respectively), indicating that work published by UK researchers is more widely made use of in subsequent research.
Between 1996 and 2020, the UK's overall field-weighted citation impact rose to become the highest among comparator countries.
Investment in research and innovation deliver high returns on investment and creates economic benefit
Investment in research and innovation delivers value for money, with proven returns on investment on public funding:
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Every £1 allocated through the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) in England resulted in around £10 of value.
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The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme generates £8 of net Gross Value Added (GVA) for every £1 of grant invested.
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Overall, every £1 of public Research and Development (R&D) spending stimulates between £1.96 and £2.34 of private spending.
This report underlines the clear role that university research and innovation can play in building an economy that delivers growth and opportunity for communities across the whole of the UK.
Professor Paul Boyle
Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University and Chair of the Universities UK Research and Innovation Policy Network
University research helps businesses and other organisations solve problems
Universities provide a huge amount of support in the form of consultancy and contract research to businesses, the public sector, charities, and other organisations. This can take many forms but can include technological innovation, human resource management, and organisational strategy.
In 2020–21, universities delivered contract research worth £1.4 billion to businesses and non-commercial organisations. While the number of interactions generally fell during the Covid-19 pandemic, over the last five years, universities have had nearly 600,000 interactions with businesses and non-commercial partners through contract research and consultancy.
Universities also license their research for businesses, not-for-profits, and the public sector to use. In 2020-21, universities had over 40,000 active licenses with businesses and non-commercial organisations.
Universities turn research into new businesses
Universities can commercialise their research by ‘spinning-out’ new companies. This is the process of turning an idea into a brand-new company which can be partly owned by the university. Graduate or staff start-ups can also emerge from university research.
19k
The number of active spin-outs, start-ups and social enterprises that emerged from universities
£
7
bn
The external investment attracted by businesses emerging from universities
96k
The estimated number of employees at businesses that emerged from universities (2020–21)
£
13
bn
The estimated turnover of businesses that emerged from universities (2020–21)
Research from the Royal Academy of Engineering shows that university spin-outs have longer lifespans than other start-ups. Only half of all startups survive for longer than five years, but the average lifespan of an academic spin-out is 8.8 years.
University research contributing to advancements in medicine or technology are well publicised, there were 282 active academic spin-outs in the pharmaceutical sector in January 2022. But academic spin-outs cover a wide range of sectors including in social sciences and the creative sectors. Some of the top sectors for active spin-outs in 2022 included:
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analytics and insights (205 spin-outs)
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software as a service (122 spin-outs)
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security services (57 spin-outs)
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educational services (49 spin-outs)
Academic spin-outs also lead the way in pioneering sectors helping to drive future-facing emerging skills and jobs. In 2022, the top emerging sectors for academic spin-outs were artificial intelligence, precision medicine, eHealth, big data and digital security.
Health discoveries often make the headlines, but research brings so much more, including new jobs, economic growth, and a better understanding of the world we live in.
Vivienne Stern
Chief Executive of Universities UK
Glossary
eHealth
Using information and communication technology to support health and healthcare.
Gross value added (GVA)
Gross value added is a metric that measures the contribution of an entity to the national accounts.
Start-up
Businesses that have just started up, in this context they are new businesses started by either staff or graduates of UK universities.
Spin-out
Spin-outs (or sometimes spin-offs) are companies set up to make use of intellectual property (ideas, products, and inventions) that originated from within a university. Often, the university will be involved, but the companies are separate from the university itself.