New report shows how the Medical Research Council (MRC) research funding is boosting UK jobs and economic growth.
Research funded by MRC has led to spin-out companies with an economic value of greater than £6.1 billion. This has created more than 3,800 jobs and attracted £10.2 billion of external investment, according to new analysis published today.
Independent evaluation
The report was conducted by independent evaluator Ipsos UK. It was commissioned to establish an overview of the investment and growth outcomes achieved by spin-outs that have been linked to intellectual property developed with MRC’s funding.
Commercialising technologies linked to MRC-funded research
Ipsos UK collected an initial dataset that included details of companies established to commercialise technologies linked to MRC-funded research from 2008 to 2023.
One hundred and forty-six were linked to MRC’s translationally targeted research funding, established to speed up the transfer of research ideas into new interventions, and 195 to other MRC-funded research.
Billions in private sector investment
The report looked at the 206 spin-outs for which there was Pitchbook data. These companies accounted for around 34% of the total capital raised by spin-outs in the wider UK pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector founded between 2008 and 2023.
Collectively, £5.7 billion was secured in equity investment by those 206 companies, with 22 companies each attracting more than £50 million in investment. More than half (54%) established some level of external capital investment.
