Scottish university spinout firms outperform rest of UK

Scotland is outperforming the rest of the UK in creating university spinout companies, a study has found.

The fifth annual report for the Spinouts UK survey shows Scotland is home to one in five (20%) of the UK’s spinouts, significantly ahead of the next two best performing regions – London (14%) and south-east England (12%). The report also highlights Scotland’s reputation as a centre of excellence, with Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt universities all featuring strongly in the UK top 20.

Spinouts are defined as companies formed to commercialise intellectual property (IP) owned by a university and exclude start-ups which are not based on IP from the institution.

During the period measured, life science-related spinouts dominated at43% of the total. Spinouts in the information communications technology and digital sector were the next most prolific at 23%.

The report also reveals ICT and digital companies have experienced greater success in commercialising products.

According to an expert from IP law firm Marks & Clerk, the figures may be pointing towards greater consolidation among spinouts in the UK.

Patent attorney and partner Richard Gibbs said: “While the number of spinouts has declined, industry experience is helping to forge a more sophisticated and efficient approach to evolving these businesses.”

“Industry experience is helping”