University’s innovation power revealed in new report
The University’s commercialisation service has announced record research translation figures for the latest financial year.
Over the past 12 months, Edinburgh Innovations has secured more than £150 million in research funding and more than £140 million has been invested into the University’s portfolio via its in-house venture investment team, Old College Capital.
This is a sizeable increase from last year’s figures when the service obtained £91 million in research funding and secured investment of £107 million during the 2022/23 financial period.
The service has also increased the number of new companies it has launched, with 127 new startups and spinouts now translating cutting-edge research into real-world solutions.
Edinburgh Innovations leads the University’s activities in industry engagement and business development, enterprise support for students and staff, and the identification, management and commercialisation of University intellectual property.
Other key areas of growth include the filing of 140 patents and entering into 55 licenses for companies to use University technologies.
The impressive figures come in a year when the University was named joint first in the world for industry, innovation and infrastructure in the Times Higher Impact Rankings.
Global impact
Since its launch, Edinburgh Innovations has supported hundreds of researchers, students and businesses to apply their research to real-world problems and make a valuable impact on the economy and society.
This year’s new companies include 116 student startups, six staff startups and five staff spinouts who have received free support from the service, including one-to-one business advice, access to mentoring networks, accelerator programmes and enterprise events and competitions.
Companies to have benefitted from this support include Prothea Technologies, launched in April with European investment of €12 million to identify and treat diseased lung tissue in a one-stop procedure.
Another Edinburgh spinout, Trogenix, unveiled a platform this month that can kill brain cancer cells without affecting nearby healthy cells.
Startups launched by the University’s students and staff have an enviable record of long-term success, supported by venture capital and other investors.
In September 2024, MiAlgae, a company that began life as a student startup, was selected as a finalist in the prestigious Earthshot prize.
MiAlgae uses waste products from the whisky industry to make Omega-3, an essential mineral for human and animal health that is usually naturally accumulated by fish. MiAlgae’s innovative solution creates an alternative source that prevents overfishing for this mineral.
As a global leader in research, we drive innovation across all that we do. These figures show the power the University has in supporting entrepreneurs translate their concepts and research into real solutions that will improve people’s lives across the world.
The University of Edinburgh has world-leading research, a track record in major therapeutics and life sciences spinouts, and emerging technologies in areas like cell and gene therapy, engineering biology and semiconductors. We also have the expertise to translate discoveries into world-changing innovations. What we need now is to turn up the dial; for investors and policy makers to fully engage with Scotland, which is second only to the Golden Triangle in terms of deal flow. Scotland and the north will play a critical role in strengthening the UK tech sector as a true powerhouse to rival the US and China.
We have a strong culture of innovation here at the University, with a particular focus on our three missions - shaping future health and care, harnessing data and AI for good, and tackling the climate and environmental crisis. Our new Research and Innovation Strategy sets an ambitious goal of doubling the number of innovation-active researchers by 2030, which we are driving forwards through our new Innovation Career Pathway.
The work of Edinburgh Innovations to support the commercialisation of research, through the creation of spinout companies, will unlock new opportunities for growth, strengthen our global competitiveness, and ensure that Scotland remains at the forefront of innovation. Close collaboration between government, universities, industry and investors will enable us to build a thriving, sustainable economy for the benefit of all of the UK.