Scottish spin-outs generate more than $500m

A report by PraxisUnico, a UK-based educational non-profit supporting innovation and commercialisation of public sector and charity research, has found that spin-outs from Scottish universities have an economic impact of more than £300m per year. A total 20% of all spin-outs in the UK over the last decade have been launched at Scottish universities. 

Scotland’s institutions are grabbing an increasingly large section of the pie. Ten years ago, they accounted for 19% of all British spin-outs and that number has steadily increased to reach 26% in 2012 – PraxisUnico’s latest figure – versus Scotland’s population share of 8.4%. A separate report by Universities Scotland, the representative body of the country’s 19 higher education institutions, found that the share had further increased to 28% in 2013.

Five Scottish universities – Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt – are among the top ten most active universities in the creation of spin-outs from 2010 to 2012.

The country’s universities currently benefit from £250m ($420m) from UK research funding each year, out of a total £3.4bn ($5.7bn) for all UK institutions for the period of 2011 to 2015. Scotland also benefits from being part of the UK’s network of seven Research Councils, which minimise duplication and overlap and thus maximise the ability to make new and innovative discoveries.  Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scotland Office of the UK government have been quick to point out that Scottish spin-outs and the wider economy are at risk of losing out if the country gains independence.

Meanwhile Michael Russell, Scotland’s education secretary, said: “These figures show that Scotland punches above its weight when it comes to Higher Education. We already know that Scotland is world renowned for its research, not least for being home to recent Nobel winner Professor Peter Higgs. I believe a Scotland with full control over its resources and powers can make this happen. As we made clear in Scotland’s Future, this Government will provide public investment in research that will enable our researchers and universities to remain internationally competitive.”