StartupCafe

I always wonder how the startup scene in Edinburgh and Scotland really compare to that of London and the rest of the U.K. From the BBC comes this encouraging news today: Scotland is the No. 1 producer of spin-out companies in the U.K., with Edinburgh leading the pack.

Spinout companies aren’t the same as startups—spin-outs, in this case, refer only to companies that have built their product or service around a piece of research or intellectual property from a university—but it’s an encouraging metric nonetheless.

Here’s an extract of the same story, as published in Nexxus Scotland.

New Spinouts UK survey reveals top ten universities produce more than half of all UK spinout companies

The survey, launched today, shows that Imperial formed 59 spinouts between 2000-10, followed by Oxford (55), Edinburgh (49), Cambridge (44), Warwick (36), Strathclyde (35), Newcastle (28), Bristol (28), Sheffield (28), Queen’s University Belfast and Leeds (both with 25). Between them, the universities have spun out 412 companies.

Between 2008-10, Edinburgh was top of the list with 16 spinouts, followed by Newcastle (11), Imperial College London (9), Strathclyde (9), Oxford (9), Warwick (9), Cambridge (4), Queen Mary’s London (4), Queen’s University Belfast (4), Ulster (4) and Heriot Watt (4).

Scottish institutions produced more spinout companies than those in any other region, 172, of which 125 are currently active. The second most successful region was London (115), followed by the South East (85), Yorkshire & Humber (75) and the West Midlands (64). Life sciences companies represent by far the largest proportion of spinouts (43%), followed by ICT and digital.