SCOTLAND’S universities have suffered a real terms funding cut of six per cent over the past five years.
The tuition fees policy in Scotland has turned intakes of non-EU students into a financial necessity.
Throw in the uncertainties of Brexit, particularly for research funding, and future challenges are all too obvious.
In this context, universities see the need to convert outputs from their lecture theatres and laboratories into future revenue.
Equally, society is entitled to expect that universities do not exist solely within an academic vacuum where research often has the potential to create businesses and jobs, as well as pure knowledge.
Not all academics have seen it like that and were content to concentrate on intellectual challenges, so long as the grants kept coming.
However, the economic environment has changed and encouraging spin-out companies features high on every university’s objectives.
Scottish universities seem to be relatively good at it – providing, according to the most recent figures, 28 per cent of the UK’s spin-out companies
Aberdeen University claims “an enviable record in producing spin-out companies based on cutting-edge research” and features on its website more than 30 success stories to encourage the interest of investors.
Recently, two companies formed at the university were successful at the Scottish EDGE Awards, where promising entrepreneurs pitch for funding.
One of them, Eurobiotix, formed by two medical students, had been the first to receive support through the university’s own ABVenture Zone, an incubation space for infant companies.
Robert Gordon University formed a partnership with Edinburgh-based Frontier IP to support commercialisation through spin-outs and technology licensing.
Frontier has access to venture capital and the university retains a stake in emerging companies, through the RGU Ventures Investment Fund.
Frontier provides the same services for half a dozen universities, including Dundee, Heriot Watt and Cambridge.
Their most recent announcement was a tie-up between a Dundee spin-out and German partners to develop an algorithmic design platform which identifies candidates for treatment with certain cancer drugs.
They have also partnered with a Portuguese university which wants to tap into UK expertise on spin-outs.
Neil Crabb, chief executive of Frontier, confirms that pressure is on for more spin-outs.
“Government increasingly matches funding to outputs, as reflected in exploitation as well as publication,” he said.
“There was resistance in the past due to concerns about the integrity of the research being corrupted, but a balance is now being struck”.
He says RGU is attracting a lot of interest, particularly as “a powerhouse” in computing and big data.
Most of us don’t know enough about the incredibly interesting and valuable work that goes on within our academic institutions.
I’m sure this isn’t for want of trying by university press officers but often the detail is too obscure to catch a headline.
Investors are a specialist audience and it is vital that they are aware of the opportunities which are being created.
The North-east is well served by its universities and at a time when every job counts, it is particularly important that links between research and investment are maximised, to create new businesses and jobs.
Let’s all pay attention to what’s going on inside these ivory towers!