UK spin-out funding scheme ‘heavily oversubscribed’

Heavily oversubscribed UK spin-out scheme ‘must be expanded’

Thousands set to miss out on fund set up by UK government to support companies in traversing the ‘Valley of Death’ between research and commercialisation, universities fear

五月 20, 2025

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The UK government has been urged to expand a national fund that supports academics to launch businesses based on their innovations, if it wants to follow through on its ambition to create a “boom” in spin-outs.

In the autumn budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves?allocated ?40 million over five years in proof-of-concept (PoC) funding?to help early-stage companies traverse the “Valley of Death” – the challenging funding gap between research and commercialisation.

But TenU, which represents university technology transfer teams, has warned that the first ?9 million tranche of the fund, which is set to be announced this summer, is already significantly oversubscribed, with thousands of academics set to miss out.

It recommends that more public funding be offered alongside support from the business world, and that investors should be brought in to support the application and decision-making process as part of a more “sophisticated” approach.

TenU has worked with a coalition of research organisations and mission groups to highlight?barriers to university commercialisation and economic growth.?The Labour government sees boosting the country’s spin-out ecosystem as part of its growth mission for the economy.

Speaking ahead of an event at the British Academy on 20 May, Adam Stoten, site head of drug discovery and development company Evotec and chair of a working group set up to look at the issues, said he has frequently seen “great ideas stuck in limbo”.

“With its world-class research base, the UK should be a global leader in spin-outs. A more strategic and sophisticated approach to PoC funding would dramatically increase the number of successful spin-outs, licences and high-growth start-ups from UK universities.”

TenU’s research has found that the UK is?far behind other countries when it comes to public PoC funding.

Belgian university KU Leuven receives €20 million (?16.8 million) annually from the regional government for PoC funding – more than all UK universities combined. And Australia has introduced a $1.6 billion (?800 million) 10-year programme supporting the journey from cutting-edge research to the products and services of the future.

TenU’s analysis suggests that PoC funding brings a significant return on investment and helps create an ecosystem for commercialisation.

Tim Haines, chair of TenU, said: “A partnership approach is a win-win. For a spin-out boom – particularly in sectors identified in the Industrial Strategy – there needs to be more access to PoC funding and support.

“At the same time, greater private sector involvement in process could attract greater levels of follow-on investment, and the private sector would benefit from a greater pool of validated, investment-ready spin-outs and a flourishing entrepreneurship on campuses.”

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com

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