Reforms ‘could drive massive expansion of spin-out activity’

The number of companies spun out of leading UK universities could increase as much as fivefold under a more favourable policy regime, according to the University of Oxford vice-chancellor.

Investment in British university spin-offs is tipped to hit £2.3 billion this year, and Irene Tracey told the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit that the sector had been performing “remarkably well given the financial constraints we have been under”.

Professor Tracey said leaders were keen to develop this activity further in the wake of a report on the issue she co-authored last year, under which universities will take smaller stakes in spin-outs in a bid to drive greater private investment.

She identified creating more permeable career paths between academia and industry as a priority, suggesting that tenure tracks should be rethought to allow for periods of entrepreneurship.

But Professor Tracey said the government also had an important role to play, arguing that much-needed policy reforms could achieve significant results.

“I could spin out probably four or five companies for every one I can [now], for want of capital investment, for ease of planning and speed of planning…and then we want to have access to a bigger talent pool,” said Professor Tracey, noting that it was “very rare” that academics made good chief executives.

“We need people who know how to run businesses, and we just need more of them, and we need them in a critical mass in different regions and hubs, so it’s really easy for that talent pool to move between those different companies, because that’s how we’ll hold [on to] the companies,” she said.

Professor Tracey said it “breaks her heart” to see British universities “invest on a shoestring” to support spin-outs and then “just when they’re ready to go big” they leave for countries such as the US that offer greater access to capital, facilities and talent.

“We’ve got to fix that because that’s a tragic loss of talent and economic impact to the country,” she told the summit, being held at the University of Manchester.

Richard Jones, Manchester’s vice-president of regional innovation and civic engagement, said his city region was lucky to have “pro-growth” local authorities, highlighting the £1.7 billion city centre Sister innovation district, which will create space for 10,000 workers in offices, laboratories and incubators, and Atom Valley, a planned advanced manufacturing arc across sites in Bury, Rochdale and Oldham.

He said Manchester was seeking to learn from other innovation hotspots such as Cambridge about their experiences, and potentially to attract companies from such overcrowded markets to come to the north-west.

“If, as universities, we work with our local regions and make the most of the strengths we’ve got, and then we join up across the country, I think that will be the way that we can get that all-important inclusive economic growth,” Professor Jones said.

He added: “Universities have the capability to do this, we have the intellectual resources, we have the freedoms that are so important – so I think we have an obligation to do it.”

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com