TO BE PUBLISHED November 2025
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This conference will examine priorities for university spin-outs in the UK, with the Government’s recently announced £30m investment in regional spin-out hubs, taking place in the context of the 2025 Spending Review and Modern Industrial Strategy 2025. Areas for discussion include further recent government innovation and funding initiatives, national data strategies, and evolving accountability frameworks, including guidance on commercialising knowledge assets and the development of the UK Spin-Out Register and REF 2028 metrics.
It will be an opportunity for key stakeholders and policymakers to discuss the Government’s response to the Independent Review of University Spin-Out Companies, alongside the integration of spin-out support within the Industrial Strategy. The development of regionally-focused collaboration between universities, business and investors in economically-important sectors identified in the strategy will be considered - such as life sciences, advanced manufacturing, digital technologies, and clean energy. Delegates will assess strategic considerations for individual universities and sector coordination, including data transparency. We expect discussion to draw on the new commercialisation guidance from the Government Office for Technology Transfer, and the updated public sector spinout framework.
Attendees will examine institutional approaches to equity allocation by universities, investors, and innovation leaders, in light of new guidance encouraging lower university equity shares of 10-25% to incentivise founders. Strategies to engage academic founders and adopt shared service models to support spin-out formation and growth will be discussed, as well as reviewing early-stage commercial planning, from proof-of-concept funding to investor negotiations. Approaches to widening participation in commercialisation activity will be considered, including those aimed at reducing regional disparities and supporting emerging centres of spin-out activity beyond the Golden Triangle.
Further sessions will consider the role of regional collaboration in developing spin-out ecosystems. Delegates will look at how institutional approaches to investment, governance, and culture vary across different settings, including implications of the upcoming National Spinout Register and initiatives aimed at improving transparency and scale-up support. They will also assess the influence of leadership diversity within spin-out teams, as well as the impact of recent immigration and visa policy changes on access to international talent and university planning.
With the agenda currently in the drafting stage, overall areas for discussion include:
- policy and implementation:
- next steps following the 2025 Spending Review and the Modern Industrial Strategy - implementation of spin-out support in government funding and regulation
- implications of the Independent Review of University Spin-Out Companies - alignment of new commercialisation guidance with wider innovation priorities
- transparency and accountability:
- publication and use of the National Spinout Register - standardising university deal terms and publishing equity policies
- links to REF 2029 and evolving knowledge exchange metrics - improving data to support policymaking and stakeholder confidence
- equity allocation and founder incentives:
- new guidance recommending 10-25% university stakes - strategies to align investor, founder and institutional interests
- market impact of falling average equity shares - inconsistencies in institutional practice
- support models:
- fostering entrepreneurship within academic environments - shared technology transfer office arrangements and sector-specific models, particularly for smaller or non-STEM universities
- best practice templates and processes - reforms to the Higher Education Innovation Fund and other funding routes to sustain support for commercialisation
- funding, investment, and scale-up capacity:
- expanding proof-of-concept funding and access to early-stage capital - long-term investment strategy and addressing incubator concerns
- retaining high-growth spinouts in the UK - leveraging public-private partnerships to support scale-up
- regional ecosystems and collaboration:
- coordination across universities, investors, and business in funded regional clusters - long-term development of innovation ecosystems beyond the Golden Triangle
- use of Connecting Capability Fund and local authority partnerships - coordination with wider infrastructure and local growth plans
- strategic priorities:
- targeting growth areas including life sciences, AI, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy - alignment with Industrial Strategy funding streams
- integrating spinouts into sector-specific innovation and procurement plans
- talent:
- impact of new immigration and visa policy - high-talent visa routes and research intern schemes - International Student Levy - sustaining a pipeline of commercialisation talent
- academic career pathways and entrepreneurship - entrepreneurship training for - skills passports and - buyout and internship schemes to support commercial pathways from research
- diversity and leadership:
- addressing gender imbalance - supporting underrepresented academic founders - impact of institutional policy and training on diversity outcomes
