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HE Provider Data: Business and Community Interaction – Open data release

The Higher Education - Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) survey gathers data on UK universities' engagement in the economy and the wider application of their work.

View HE Provider Data: Business and Community Interaction

Data on the number of spin-off and start up companies founded by university staff and graduates show 4,204 newly registered companies in 2018/19. 3,825 of these were graduate start-ups, a drop of 5% on the previous year’s figure. However, the data shows increases in turnover, investment and staffing of existing graduate start-ups.1

1,867 new patents were granted to HE providers over the 2018/19 academic year, an increase of 9% on the previous year. UK HE providers now hold a total portfolio of 22,122 patents of which 8,717 are held overseas.2 Total revenues from intellectual property for the sector stood at £269 million in 2018/19.3

The survey also captures details of public engagement with universities and colleges. In 2018/19 HE providers recorded nearly 7 million attendees at chargeable public lectures, performances, exhibitions, museum education and other events, and over 600 million at free events.4  

Full results of the HE-BCI survey are published as open data on the HESA website.

Notes

  1. See Chart 1. Please note that the large increase in FTE of spin-offs with HE provider ownership is largely explained by one provider whose employment figures were affected by mergers and acquisitions within their spin-out portfolio (see Data Intelligence)
  2. See Table 4a
  3. See Table 4d
  4. See Table 5
  5. See Definitions: HE - Business and Community Interaction for full definitions of terms used in the release and explanation of the coverage of statistics.
  6. See Upcoming data releases for a schedule of Official Statistics releases from HESA.
  7. HESA cannot accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived from the data by third parties.
  8. To give feedback on today’s release please complete the Open data feedback form.
     
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