The role of universities in driving overseas investment into UK Research and Development

The Clinical Medicine income is concentrated in London (12.6%) and the rest of the South East (6.9%) while other subject areas are more evenly distributed – for example, Scotland leads in the Biosciences and Chemistry investment is broadly distributed between London (0.5%) and the rest of the South-East (1.0%), the East of England (0.6%), Scotland (0.8%) and the North-West (0.7%).18 Universities,. [...] What is the role of universities in attracting and retaining FDI into R&D? Barriers and incentives The benefits to be gained regionally from FDI are clear, and yet universities face significant barriers to attracting this type of investment, largely through 1) the incentive structure in place for universities to pursue this investment; 2) the process of refining and communicating the offer to inve. [...] Alongside each of these sector offers is an investment prospectus that describes the economic and geographical strengths of the region – for example, in the life sciences emphasising its four leading medical schools, 87,000 STEM students and its place as a home to the largest genomics lab hub in the UK.50 The relationship between the University of Birmingham and the West Midlands Growth Company ha. [...] The success of this partnership has been predicated on strong relationships that exist at the operational, delivery and strategic levels in both organisations.  Taylor also draws attention to the importance of culture and tourism in building the relationships that lead to FDI – for example, the Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham in the summer of 2022 helped promote the region to potential inves. [...] The University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Engagement and Place, Professor Jane Robinson, says this partnership approach is key to the region’s success in attracting FDI: It is the attraction of access to the University’s research and innovation expertise, and critically, to the pool of highly-skilled graduates, that makes the difference when the investment agency attends annual events like MIPIM [L.