The
UK’s universities are becoming more business focused and are creating more jobs
than ever before, the Government has claimed.
The
latest Government figures show that Higher Education (HE) spin-off companies
increased turnover from £212m to £289m in the past 12 months.
The
spin-off firms, which are either owned or operated by HE staff to exploit the
results of their academic research, now employ more than 12,000 staff across
the UK.
Universities
are also making more use of research with the amount of money generated from
selling intellectual property increasing by 83 per cent, up from £18m to £33m.
The
annual Higher Education Business Interaction survey also shows the number of
new patents filed has grown from 896 last year to 976 – a rise of 8 per cent.
