FEATURE
The Social and Economic Influence Queen’s University Belfast’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Greer, talks to Emma Deighan about how the educational institution is making its mark on the economy and the business landscape here and why the Belfast Region City Deal will be instrumental in strengthening that impact.
Q
ueen’s University Belfast took first place on the Entrepreneurial Impact Ranking (EIR), a UK-wide report that reveals universities’ success at turning their academic achievements into thriving companies. It was the second year running that Queen’s was ranked as the best performing University. The EIR, a list collated by Octopus Ventures – an investor in early stage businesses – lays bare the link between universities and the economy. The report states: “For every £1 invested in research the Government gets around £3.60 back in terms of economic benefit. The closer that investment is to market, the greater that economic benefit becomes”. It added: “Queen’s success emphasises the importance of quality of spinout – it consistently yields a high proportion of successful exits. The university’s most recent exit saw cybersecurity and data analytics spinout, Titan IC, acquired in April 2020 by Mellanox, an IsraeliAmerican supplier of networking technologies.” QUBIS, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Queen’s and the commercialisation arm of the university, has been involved with the development of over 90 spinout companies since it was launched in 1984.
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