Opinion: University spinouts - the system isn’t broken

Dr Anne Lane, Managing Director of UCL Business, refutes claims that the way European universities commercialise their research stymies innovation and holds back entrepreneurs. It has been suggested recently that European universities and their technology transfer offices (TTOs) operate a broken commercialisation system that stymies growth and holds back entrepreneurs. The system isn't broken - it is specifically designed to back public - and charity-funded research and innovation over the long haul, something that many traditional investors are not set up to do. Whether it's Cambridge's Silicon Fen or London's burgeoning artificial intelligence talent, universities' access to industry, combined with the right levels of investment, has led to great success. Think Achilles Therapeutics, raising $176m, and Orchard Therapeutics $225m IPO on the NASDAQ, Imperial College spinout Ceres Power's impressive hydrogen technologies, or the anticipated Oxford Nanopore London Stock Exchange listing. They all show that university investment and support have enabled fundamental research to be commercialised at dramatically increasing rates. Like-for-like, the UK performs well compared to the US in metrics like the number of spinouts formed, invention disclosure and industrial income into the research base.