A new report by London Economics, assessing the economic impact of the 24 Russell Group universities, found that for every £1 of public funds invested in research at these institutions, more than £8.50 was generated for the UK economy – as a result, the impact of their research and commercialisation activities equated to £37.6billion in 2021/2022.
Analysis showed that the research and commercialisation activities of the 24 universities, such as the creation of new spin-out companies,wider knowledge exchange and Intellectual Property licensing across all four nations helped to support more than a quarter of a million (254,000) jobs, twice as many as in the chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing industries combined.
The report shows how the universities contributed to economies in every single region and nation of the country, delivering research and innovation in sectors ranging from medicine to sustainable energy and the creative industries. This is in addition to the economic impact generated by wider productivity spill overs, teaching and education-related activities, and the fees and spending from international students.
Now, the Russell Group is urging the Government to maximise the economic potential of the UK’s research-intensive universities by ensuring at least 3% of GDP is invested into R&D by 2030.
