Is the UK’s spin-out decline reversing?

University spin-outs in the UK have been declining since the turn of the decade, but new data suggests that the trend may be starting to reverse.

Data released by publication Spinouts UK found that although university intellectual property-led businesses have been declining for four years, editor Jonathan Harris said its latest quarterly update suggests that the number of recent spin-outs “indicate at least a slowing down of this trend”. Spinouts UK, which also recently published its annual report (available here), also reported a 30% increase of companies started by university graduates.

Harris said this could be due to the ease of which digital companies can now be started. However, it also likely to be one part digital companies, and another part the increase in spread and successes of accelerators and incubators, such as SetSquared, which was recently ranked number one university business incubator in Europe by UBI Index. Global University Venturing has also noted an uptake in university venture and innovation funds in recent months in the UK, which are beginning to have an impact.

At the other end of the spin-out lifecycle, UK companies have dominated the initial public offering scene since the start of the year, according to data compiled in the latest Global University Venturing magazine. Both GUV’s half year analysis and Spinouts UK also underline the healthcare sector’s continuing dominance in the spin-out area, both in the UK and on an international level. Spinouts UK also noted that the majority of spin-outs come from the UK’s Golden Triangle of Oxford, London, and Cambridge. GUV’s recent analysis corroborates this, with Oxford, Cambridge, and Imperial College London making up three of the five most active universities we’ve reported on in 2014.

The UK, along with Scandinavia, is the focus of GUV’s regular technology transfer regions feature in the upcoming August feature. There is still time for readers to contribute news and views to the piece, and you can provide yours by getting in touch with myself, Gregg Bayes-Brown, at gbayes-brown@globaluniversityventuring.com this week.