Higher Education - Business and Community Interaction Survey
The Higher Education - Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) survey is undertaken annually across the UK Higher Education Sector to collect data on strategies and activities pursued by institutions during the academic year to commercialise knowledge.
The HE-BCI survey is a useful measure of knowledge transfer between Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) and their local economy. The survey allows us to identify trends in HEI-business interaction and to monitor their development. It records spin-outs, staff and graduate start-ups, and other commercialisation of knowledge generated by HEIs. HEIs' engagement with SMEs and other organisations are also covered by the survey.
Results from academic year 2006-07
1. The most recent survey provides data for the academic year 2006-07.
2. In 2006-07, as in previous years, Scotland has been generally more active in knowledge transfer than the UK as a whole. This is due to Scotland's relatively high number of HEIs compared to its population and a commensurate higher level of research funding.
3. The main findings from the Scottish survey for 2006-07 are consistent with previous years. They also show an overall upward trend in the levels of commercialisation activity from 2000-01 to 2006-07, despite volatility in some indicators at the regional level.
4. The majority of commercialisation activity in Scotland is concentrated in a small number of HEIs, for example: 5 HEIs account for 95% of total IP income; 5 HEIs account for 88% of the total income from collaborative research; 5 HEIs account for 82% of the total value of contract research; and 5 HEIs account for 80% of the total value of consultancy contracts. Two of the 19 Scottish HEIs did not complete the survey this year. This must be borne in mind when comparing the latest data with previous year's data.
5. The main findings from the Scottish survey results for 2006-07 are detailed below:
- Total income generated from collaborative research increased by 26% from £78.4 million to £98.8 million in 2006-07.
- Income from contract research increased by 29% from £64.2 million in 2005-06 to £83.1 million in 2006-07.
- Income generated by consultancy contracts increased by 26%, from £25.8 million in 2005-06 to £32.5 million in 2006-07.
- The number of new patent applications filed increased by 34% from 129 in 2005-06 to 173 in 2006-07.
- Patents granted have decreased by 20% from 76 in 2005-06 to 61 in 2006-07.
- The number of disclosures increased by 12%, from 334 in 2005-06 to 373 in 2006-07.
- Total spin-offs established in 2006-07 (both with and without HEI ownership) has increased from 22 to 30 since the previous year.
- The number of people employed by spin-offs active in 2006-07 with no HEI ownership increased from 1,702 ( FTE) in 2005-06 to 1,839 ( FTE).
- On average, Scottish HEIs record £0.74 million turnover from each active spin-off (both with and without HEI ownership) in 2006-07, in comparison to £0.49 million in the UK as a whole.
- Scottish institutions rank 'access to education' first, as the area through which they contribute to economic development and rank 'technology transfer' as the second. The industrial sectors that they work most closely with are Education (100% of HEIs work with this sector), International Organisations and Bodies (100%) and Health and Social Work (94%).
Main downloads
The UK report and full data sets by region and by Institute can be found on HEFCE's website.
Previous Scottish reports are also available to download in PDF format:
Statistics Contact
Neil Henderson, Business & Enterprise Statistics, Office of the Chief Economic Advisor
e-mail address: neil.henderson2@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
0141 242 5533
Further statistics and information on Research and Development can be found on the Business Statistics section of the Scottish Government website.