New data from a Higher Education Business Community and Interaction (HE-BCI) survey shows that between August 2022 and the end of July 2023 76,619 university-business interactions took place, a decline of 5% from the previous year. In response, the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) is warning that the UK economy is at risk without strengthened university-business collaboration.
The survey showed universities generated £5.7bn of income from knowledge exchange activity, a 0.02% decline in cash terms and 6.1% decline in real terms from the previous year. The good news was that 1,571 spin-out companies that had survived at least three years, up by 9%, and there were 165 newly registered spinouts.
Commenting on the results released today, Rosalind Gill, head of policy and engagement at the NCUB, said: “This data is a stark warning that financial pressures are straining university knowledge exchange and collaboration with industry. Across a range of metrics, and despite comparisons being made against particularly challenging years during the Covid-19 pandemic, collaboration between universities and businesses declined rather than grew in 2022-23.
“Falls in university-business interaction are likely linked to a range of factors including the significant financial pressures facing universities, as well as the loss of vital EU Regional Development Funding (ERDF). ERDF played a critical role in supporting some forms of collaboration but has not been adequately replaced. There is a crucial window for the Government to act now to return university-business collaboration to a trajectory of growth. This requires putting university funding on a more sustainable footing and supporting collaboration with businesses of all sizes.”