Edinburgh Innovations, the commercialisation arm of the University of Edinburgh, has announced record figures for the financial year 2023/24, including the launch of 127 new companies, 140 patents filed and £141 million invested into University-associated companies.

Celebrating its highest figures yet, the organisation said that this year has seen 116 student startups, five staff spinouts, and six staff startups. 

As well as the millions invested into the university’s portfolio of associated companies, over £150 million has been secured in funding from industry or for research with commercial potential, with fifty-five licenses entered into for companies to use university technology.

In the past year, several Edinburgh University spinouts have seen success, such as Kynos Therapeutics, which was acquired in October by German pharmaceutical Dr Falk Pharma, and Resolution Therapeutics which announced a major series B fundraise of £63.5m to progress its clinical journey. 

Meanwhile, another new spinout, Trogenix, recently unveiled a platform to kill brain cancer cells without affecting nearby healthy cells, while Prothea Technologies, launched in April, won European investment of €12m (£10m) to ‘see and treat’ diseased lung tissue in a one-stop procedure. 

Likewise, one of the institution’s more mature spinouts, MiAlgae, which began life as a student startup, was this year nominated as a finalist in the Earthshot prize for innovation with its technology making Omega-3 from whisky waste.

Dr Andrea Taylor, CEO of Edinburgh Innovations, said: “The University of Edinburgh has world-leading research, a track record in major therapeutics and life sciences spinouts, and emerging technologies in areas like cell and gene therapy, engineering biology and semiconductors. 

“We also have the expertise to translate discoveries into world-changing innovations. What we need now is to turn up the dial; for investors and policy makers to fully engage with Scotland, which is second only to the Golden Triangle in terms of deal flow.

“Scotland and the north will play a critical role in strengthening the UK tech sector as a true powerhouse to rival the US and China.”

The Scottish University Spinout Review highlighted last year that in terms of both the number and total value of deals over the last three years, investment into spinouts in Scotland exceeded all other areas of the UK, aside from the Golden Triangle.

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Recent figures from the British Business Bank showed that Scotland accounted for almost one-fifth of all UK equity deals involving university spinouts in 2023, with both the Universities of Edinburgh and Strathclyde among the UK’s top five for spinout deal activity.

In the hopes of fostering its own spinout culture, Aberdeen University announced last month that it would take a new approach by slashing its equity stake in startups to as little as 5% in an attempt to increase innovation and accelerate the commercialisation of intellectual property. 

This year, UK spinouts are expected to exceed last year’s investment levels, with over £1 billion in funding secured during the first half of 2024 alone, with annual spinout investment quadrupling over ten years from £514 million in 2014 to an estimated £2.3 billion in 2024.