Universities should be at the heart of the government’s forthcoming industrial strategy, the Russell Group and business leaders have urged, as they called on ministers to put more money into the Higher Education Innovation Fund.
In a new report, a Russell Group panel of industrial strategy experts say that scaling up the HEIF—which aims to strengthen the connection between higher education institutions and the broader economy and society—would spur more high-potential spinouts and startups, and support broader commercialisation of research.
The panel includes senior leaders from research-intensive universities in the Russell Group, along with senior leaders from businesses including GSK, NatWest and Octopus Energy Group.
‘Engines of growth’
“Uplifting the value of the HEIF would enable universities to significantly step up their commercialisation and business engagement capacity, making a far larger contribution to growth across priority industrial sectors,” the report says.
The government is expected to set out its plans for a new industrial strategy, seen as key to its mission for economic growth, at the spending review in June.
The industrial strategy represents “a new opportunity to harness the strengths of universities as place-based engines of growth”, says the report. It adds that the reputation of UK universities should be used to attract overseas investment.
The report comes after Universities UK calculated that the UK workforce could need 11 million more graduates over the next 10 years.
Full story: UK industrial strategy must utilise university strengths, say experts – Research Professional News
