This question was answered on 11th December 2020
University-business collaboration and the effective commercialisation of university research is critical to achieving the Government’s ambition to spend 2.4% of GDP on R&D by 2027. The Government has introduced a range of incentives and investments to support universities, charities and businesses to work together, such as:
- The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund funds collaborative research with business;
- £900m UK Research Partnership Investment Fund has generated over £2bn in private co-investment to create research centres and facilities in universities across the UK in collaboration with business and charities;
- Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP), which help businesses to innovate and grow by linking them with an academic or research organisation and a graduate;
- Mechanisms to broker new connections, include Konfer (an online platform to connect universities and businesses) and the Knowledge Transfer Networks (bringing together businesses, academics, government agencies and research organisations); and
- Stimulating access to finance through Innovate UK and the British Business Bank.
As well as supporting universities in England through:
- Higher Education Innovation Funding has increased to £250m p.a. by 2020 - underpinning universities’ capacity to work with business and others;
- The £100m Connecting Capability Fund is helping universities to collaborate and pool Intellectual Property and resource so it is easier for investors and business to access; and
- The Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF), which benchmarks university performance in working with business and research commercialisation - encouraging universities to increase external engagement with business.