Power of Innovation

We do this in three main ways: by partnering with others to understand real-world challenges and co-create for growth; by protecting and licensing our inventions and other intellectual property; and by forming companies and attracting investment.

Our Research and Innovation Strategy 2030 sets out three missions where the world most urgently needs solutions: shaping the future of health and care; tackling the climate and environmental crisis; and harnessing data, digital and AI for public good. In this report we quantify our innovation activities aligned to our missions underlining our commitment to mission-orientated impact. The evidence shows significant investment and research funding awarded for health (with significant crossover with data); strong consultancy income from climate and environment projects; and a majority of new companies created to harness data and AI for good.

Our strong commercialisation results demonstrate our expertise, brought to life through the stories of our successes. This year we have also launched the Innovation Career Pathway, formalising innovation alongside research and teaching as a route to career development, built around a UK-first Competency Framework. This fulfils a commitment in the Research and Innovation Strategy and supports our ambition to double the number of innovation-active academics. Alongside creating licensing opportunities for company adoption, we are committed to creating more companies. We see this as a direct route to impact for our academics and students, catalysing change and bringing investment.

Our companies support economic and regional development as they contribute to growing clusters and, in the best cases, they create societal change on a global scale, from advances in renewable energy to curing disease.

We celebrate the University’s innovation ecosystem, from our Data-Driven Innovation and engineering biology hubs, to our Pathways Pledge to increase women’s participation in entrepreneurship. At the University of Edinburgh, we unlock innovation through our unique combination of purpose, expertise and infrastructure.

Work with us to make ideas work for a better world.