30^th April 2026

Read UCI's call to action for accelerating the spinout data transformation

Download Towards a Roadmap for Spinout Data and Evidence

New data, new analytical possibilities

Today marks the publication of the 2024/25 HEBCI data, and, excitingly, the first annual update to the UK’s Spinout Register since its inaugural launch last June. With two iterations now released, the Spinout Register - widely recognised as a world first - gives the UK a clear advantage in positioning a shared understanding of what constitutes a university spinout company.

While the Spinout Register is still maturing, it is rapidly establishing itself as the authoritative national source of data on the UK spinout population. Crucially, it has also revealed the scale of additional data and evidence required to better understand these companies, including how they are formed, how they grow, and how they generate value. As opportunities for more advanced analysis emerge, there is significant potential for intersecting and complementary efforts across universities, policymaking, and wider spinout ecosystem.

Convening a Summit to set the future direction

To bring clarity to this evolving landscape and to better coordinate where future data and analysis efforts should be targeted, UCI proposed the development of a roadmap to sequence the next generation of spinout data initiatives.

We convened a major strategic roadmapping workshop at the Spinout Data Summit in November 2025, to build consensus. The workshop brought together 50 stakeholders from universities, funding bodies, government, and data providers, and was facilitated by IfM Engage - experts in the application of strategic roadmapping for policy and industrial contexts.

The workshop aimed to:

• Identify and agree the current and future opportunity spaces that national-level spinout data and evidence could support.
• Based on the key opportunity spaces, identify specific improvements and enrichments to national spinout data, and where key gaps that currently exist could be filled - either through developments to the Spinout Register or via other routes.
• Prioritise the various suggested improvements and enrichments, based on their potential value and feasbility to take forward.

IfM Engage has since synthesised these insights into a new report, which UCI publishes today.

The full report, Towards a Roadmap for Spinout Data and Evidence, is available to download here

Calling the sector to action to continue momentum

UCI now encourages all those with an interest in university spinouts to unite behind a shared future for national spinout data. In particular, we urge actors across the spinout ecosystem to build on the UK Spinout Register and contribute to a richer, more connected national data landscape.

We would be delighted to hear from those embarking on steps towards this goal, to share learnings and collectively explore what is possible.

UCI’s call to action can be read here

Research England national knowledge exchange metrics programme

This project forms part of Research England’s national knowledge exchange (KE) metrics programme. UCI are delighted to support delivery of this programme as Research England's national KE metrics advisers, providing expert insights to develop better data and metrics for KE.