Market Inspector has conducted a study to identify the most innovative British universities. Two metrics were taken into account: the number of successful (granted) patents calculated as a yearly average per 1000 students; and the seed funds raised by startups established by graduates of the particular universities, calculated as average funds raised per startup.
The top three innovators are calculated to be:
- Imperial College London Ranks first for granted patents, with a yearly average of 1.23 per 1000 students. Average funds raised by startups are £11,873,278
- University of Oxford Has a yearly average of 1.13 successful patents per 1000 students, with average funds raised by startups standing at £13,500,450
- Queen Mary University of London A yearly average of 0.33 granted patents per 1000 students does not rank highly. However, it is the indisputable number one for successful startups, with average funds raised amounting to £28,352,835
Top 5 universities by patents and startup success rate
When solely taking into account the patents granted between 2011-2016, calculated as a yearly average per 1000 students, the highest scoring universities are: Imperial College London (1.23) , University of Oxford (1.13), University of St Andrews (0.92), University of Cambridge (0.89), and University College London (0.46).
When looking at the patent distribution between 2011-2016 within all 21 top innovative universities, the leading industry is pharma & biotech with 534 registered patents. It is followed by chemicals (249 patents), medical devices and healthcare (199 patents), and agriculture, forestry & food (172 patents).
Besides Queen Mary University of London, other notable institutions raising a significant amount of seed funding are: University of Edinburgh (£18,856,321), University of Warwick (£16,401,962), University of Manchester (£16,131,366), and University of Cambridge (£15,802,363).
2019 will be the ‘Year of Female Innovative Students’
By 2019, according to a study conducted by Reuters, 15 of the 21 top innovative British universities will be dominated by women. The proportions between female and male students will be as follows:
University | Female Students | Male Students |
King’s College London, University of Dundee | 62% | 38% |
University of Edinburgh, University of Leeds | 60% | 40% |
University of St Andrews, University of Glasgow, Cardiff University | 58% | 42% |
University College London | 57% | 43% |
University of Birmingham | 56% | 44% |
Queen Mary University of London, University of Nottingham | 54% | 46% |
University of Manchester, University of Leicester, | 53% | 47% |
University of Southampton | 52% | 48% |
