Queen’s University Belfast has been recognised as the #1 UK university for generating spinout companies in a new report by Octopus Ventures.
Queen's University is known for being much more heavily focused on research than other local universities and colleges, and it frequently wins major research grants. Cutting-edge research often results in innovative new technologies that can be spun-out into their own business ventures and commercial products.
The university has now taken the top spot on a new Entrepreneurial Impact report published by Octopus Ventures. The investment firm collected data on on the production of new intellectual property, creation of spinout companies, and successful financial exits resulting from universities across the UK.
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When it ranked the universities by these factors relative to their total funding, Octopus Ventures found that Queen's University is hitting far above its weight. It takes the number one spot on the list for the second year running, beating Cambridge, Oxford, The University of Nottingham, King's College London, Cardiff University, and other heavy hitters.
The success was attributed to Queen’s University's approach to commercialising the output of its innovations through its commercialisation arm QUBIS, which focuses on customer discovery and links in with nation-wide enterprise programmes such as Innovate UK’s Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research (ICURe) programme.
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Brian McCaul, CEO of QUBIS, said: "Whilst 2020 has been an extremely challenging year for many spinouts, particularly those seeking to raise equity, most ventures have been able to successfully progress and we are optimistic for what the future holds when we look at the quality of the commercialisation opportunities that continue to emerge from the research here at Queen’s."
Head over to http://octopusventures.com to read the full report.
Source: Written based on press release
