Universities in the US invest more than double the amount in research for each spin-off company created than those in the UK, according to data submitted by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to an inquiry on university-industry links.
An analysis of total research resources spent in institutions found that US universities invested almost ?60 million for each of the 606 spin-off companies formed in 2010-11. By contrast, UK universities invested less than ?24 million for each of the 268 companies formed during the same period.
However, the level of spending per patent produced was similar in the two countries at about ?8.5 million, according to the written submission to the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills committee inquiry.