Government

The Government's response to the Independent Review of University Spinouts was published immediately after the Review itself. The Government welcomed the recommendations of the Review and accepted them all. Implementation of the recommendations started immediately focusing on improved data for spinouts and the creation of a national spinout register, a TenU guide for software-based spinouts, and exploration of shared TTO services for less research-intensive universities. 

This is the final report and recommendations arising from an independent review by Professor Irene Tracey and Doctor Andrew Williamson to help improve the creation and growth of university spin-out companies. The review was commissioned by HM Treasury and DSIT in March 2023. The final report was released in November 2023 with the Government's response published immediately afterwards. 

This independent review undertaken by Canadian consultants McIvorStones for Research England, explores opportunities and challenges for scale-up and launch of digital spinouts across England’s HE landscape, including those with low spinout rates from traditional STEM and life-science disciplines.

This document, published by Research England and the Office for Students, sets out the background, objectives, stages and timetable of a review of Research England’s funding and policy approaches in knowledge exchange. 

Case Study from the University of Edinburgh: A collaboration with Scotland’s largest housing association started Dr Kate Carter on a journey to influence the country’s social housing strategy for the next 20 years. Imagining the home of the future has been a popular occupation among designers, architects and science fiction writers for decades.

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Case Study from the University of Edinburgh: A project with Festivals Edinburgh took Dr Jakov Jandric back to his artistic roots. Each year, Edinburgh’s Festivals attract audiences in their millions to the Scottish capital. From the Royal Tattoo to the International Film Festival and the Festival Fringe, these annual cultural events have cemented the city’s reputation for internationalism and the arts.

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In 2019 Research England commissioned SQW, supported by City-REDI, to undertake a study examining the potential theory-based approaches that Research England could implement as part of the next overall evaluation of the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF). Such theory-based approaches had not previously been implemented systematically or at a national level in a UK knowledge exchange (KE) context and were therefore considered novel. 

This is the final version of the KE Concordat, published in May 2020 following a sector consultation. Accompanying information will be published on the Concordat portal https://www.keconcordat.ac.uk/. 

Knowledge and innovation are central to the UK’s future productivity and growth. They are a key focus of the government’s Industrial Strategy. These strengths are apparent in the public sector as well as the private sector, where research has highlighted a large growth in the value of the UK public sector’s knowledge assets. Work undertaken as part of the Balance Sheet Review, launched at Autumn Budget 2017 and tasked with getting better value from government’s wide range of assets and liabilities, brought to light the scale and variety of knowledge assets held by the public sector.

This report was commissioned by the Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation (Chris Skidmore). It was authored by Professor Adrian Smith and Professor Graeme Reid following a period of sector consultation. The final report was published in November 2019. Information on the background to the review and the consultation can be found on the gov.uk website here. A copy of the report is also available here.