University pulls in £250m in outside funding

Published on 22/08/2012 00:00

EDINBURGH University has broken the Scottish record for attracting the most funding in a single year after bringing in £250 million from charities, government and industry.

The figure was up 37 per cent on the previous year and toppled the old record of £249m, which the university set in 2008-9.

Cash raised by the university is being used to fund a broad range of research, including engineering, medicine and science. The largest single grant received by the university was £12.6m from the UK government’s Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council to fund the UK Carbon Capture & Storage Research Centre.

Derek Waddell, chief executive at the university’s research and commercialisation office, said: “These record figures demonstrate the vital role we play in helping to foster growth in the nation’s economy as we transfer academic knowledge, skills, expertise and intellectual property into the wider community.”

Staff and students at the institute also launched 35 companies during the 2011-12 academic year, matching the previous year’s total but falling just short of the record 40 firms founded during 2009-10. Edinburgh filed 62 patents and signed 51 licence agreements during the year.

The total amount of cash raised by the university could rise further after Scotland on Sunday revealed in February that Edinburgh is working with London-based private equity firm MTI Ventures to raise a £150m fund to finance spin-out companies from Scotland’s universities.

PETER RANSCOMBE