Foreign Direct Investment into universities: Towards a national strategy

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has long been a part of the UK R&D ecosystem. In a university context, it can look like investment in physical spaces (such as science, innovation and enterprise parks), business investment in equipment or research activity, or purchasing shares in spin-out portfolios and licenses. But far from investment that can be taken for granted – overseas investment in university R&D declined by 6% between 2020 and 2021– it needs to be actively sought out. Building on a pilot conducted by the Midlands Engine, a roundtable on 15 July 2022 with UKRI and key experts in the field explored what a more joined-up strategy to attracting FDI might look like.