UK universities undertake more research than in other comparable countries, like the US and Australia. However, the conversion of research into funding by the sale of Intellectual Property (IP) is growing at a much slower pace.
In a move to increase revenue made by universities from R&D (research and development), the UK government will measure their success in this area.
Knowledge exchange framework
To measure their success in working with business, including how well they collaborate on research projects and how much they raise from the sale of IP, the government is developing a “knowledge exchange framework”. It will be used to analyse the success of universities of utilising their research in the commercial arena.
The value of IP and research
In Britain, 26 per cent of all research takes place in universities. For comparison, in the US this is only 13 per cent. However, US universities far outstrip those in the UK in terms of earning money from selling IP licences.
To encourage faster growth in the UK, the government has pledged an extra £40 million for the Higher Education Innovation Fund. This was set up to help universities sell their IP and will now reach £200 million in 2018/2019.
Universities support industry
While growth in revenue has been slower than in the US, there have been massive steps taken over the last couple of years by universities to support industry in the UK.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in 2015 produced guidelines for businesses surrounding how best to work with universities. Businesses are also investing record amounts of money on research projects with universities across Britain.
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