Scottish Universities show enterprising growth as spin-offs numbers rise

THE number of spin-off businesses coming out of Scotland’s universities has more than doubled over the past two years as a drive to encourage entrepreneurship pays off.

Official figures show 184 enterprises emerged from Scottish seats of learning in 2011, up from 74 in 2009 and 129 2010.

Olga Kozlova, enterprise creation manager at Edinburgh’s Heriot Watt University, said the growing base of new businesses should provide a boost to employment as some of the small firms thrive. “The more businesses you can create, the greater the likelihood of some becoming medium-sized and eventually large companies,” she said.

While the dwindling number of graduate jobs has prompted more students to consider starting a business after finishing their studies, universities have also upped their drive to encourage both staff and graduates to spin-out their ideas and knowledge into businesses.

Support and mentoring for budding entrepreneurs has become much more widely available, while universities have also worked with investor groups and specialist funds to bring in financial backing for start-ups.

The trend towards encouraging spin-out businesses from universities is a global one, but Kozlova said Scotland has been particularly successful at bringing in funding despite lacking the venture capitalist base that areas such as Cambridge or California boast.

Heriot Watt even runs a Dragon’s Den style competition – the Converge Challenge – to promote entrepreneurship. This year it has 50 entries and a prize of £45,000 in funding and support.