The University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation arm has hailed strong annual figures including investing more than £50 million in spin-out ventures.
In its latest impact review, Edinburgh Innovations revealed that £56m out of a total of £113m invested in university-associated companies had gone to spin-outs – staff companies where the institution retains intellectual property.
Many of these were “deep tech” businesses, built on complex technology platforms grown from years of scientific research, using advanced therapeutics and biotechnology to tackle issues in healthcare, for example.
Examples include Prothea Technologies, which began clinical trials last year for its technologies that aim to “see and treat” lung cancer in one hospital visit; Concinnity Genetics, which launched with £3m for its gene control platform; and Resolution Therapeutics, which dosed its first patient with a new cell therapy treatment for end-stage liver disease.
The report also highlights that 102 companies in the university’s in-house venture investment fund Old College Capital’s portfolio have created 1,236 jobs to date.
For the first time, the commercialisation service classified its innovation activity by the university’s three core missions – to shape the future of health and care; tackle the climate and environmental crisis, and harness data, digital and artificial intelligence (AI) “for good”.
The study found that 65 per cent of staff and student companies formed in the past year were linked to the mission of data, digital and AI for good.
The findings are said to support national trends reported elsewhere, showing UK spin-outs and deep tech companies remain robust in a difficult global climate for investment. The UK consistently places third in the world for venture capital investment in deep tech, second only to the US and China, with sources such as the Royal Academy of Engineering finding Edinburgh ranks highest outside the so-called Golden Triangle of Oxford, Cambridge and London for such investment.
Dr Andrea Taylor, chief executive of Edinburgh Innovations, said: “It’s fantastic to see the university’s excellence in deep tech and AI, particularly in the healthcare sphere, underscored by this report.
“Spin-outs are a direct route to impact, bringing investment, reputational gain and jobs. In the best cases, they create societal change on a global scale, from advances in renewable energy to curing disease.
“Along with our tech transfer colleagues at other universities we are calling for more UK investment and government support for spin-outs, at the proof-of-concept stage, for example. And, at Edinburgh, we are exploring ambitious ways to build on these innovation successes during the year to come.”
Edinburgh’s commercialisation figures remained buoyant across the board, contributing to the university’s renewed ranking of first in the world for Sustainable Development Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure in the Times Higher Education Impact rankings 2025, where measurement includes patents, research income from industry and number of spin-outs.
Professor Liz Baggs, interim vice principal of research and innovation, said: “The University of Edinburgh is a beacon of knowledge and discovery, and this report sheds light on how we catalyse knowledge into change.
“The new figures show our research and innovation strategy 2030 driving impact in our mission critical areas of climate, data and health, bringing economic and social benefits beyond the walls of the university. This year, we launched the Innovation Career Pathway, for academics wishing to focus on commercialisation and engagement with industry.
“In partnership with Edinburgh Innovations, we are using our unique combination of expertise, infrastructure and purpose to unlock innovation for all,” she added.
Meanwhile, digital skills provider CodeClan is set to debut what is said to be the UK’s first applied agentic AI programme to equip firms for the next wave of artificial intelligence.
Delivered by Edinburgh-based tech incubator CodeBase, which relaunched CodeClan last year, in partnership with the University of Edinburgh Business School and Qwasar Silicon Valley, the US software engineering school, the 12-week hybrid course enables senior engineers to build, deploy and optimise enterprise-scale agentic AI systems.
CodeBase acquired select assets of the CodeClan academy when it went into liquidation in 2023, before launching a pilot coding programme in 2024 in partnership with Scottish colleges and Qwasar.
Martin Boyle, vice-president of transformation at CodeBase and CodeClan lead, said: “We know the successful execution of agentic AI translates to sea change productivity gains, economic uplift and resilience, but we also understand the inherent challenges, so we’ve co-designed a best-of-class programme tapping into expertise from multiple ecosystems aimed at companies who want to be to the forefront of talent readiness and future competitiveness.
“The initiative bridges the gap between immediate industry demand for data science and AI expertise with the delivery of practical tech skills.
“Edinburgh is one of the birthplaces of machine learning and AI research and innovation”, he added, “so it’s fitting that this initiative will help to drive Scotland’s role in this hugely important area.”
The new programme is aimed at software engineers and technical practitioners who are already comfortable building systems and now want to design AI that can reason, act, and operate with a degree of autonomy. With the first cohort beginning in March, participants will spend between five and ten hours on the course every week, including a weekly three-hour workshop. In-person workshops will take place at the Edinburgh Futures Institute in the first and final weeks of the programme.
Professor Gavin Jack, dean of the University of Edinburgh Business School, said: “Upskilling and reskilling expert developers, engineers and data scientists is vital to maintaining a thriving AI ecosystem.”
Source: The Scotsman