Uppsala University linked to 193 active companies
193 spinn-off companies are active, representing a wide spectrum of sectors, from life sciences to organisation and management development.
Uppsala University is internationally known for its research and and the breadth of its educational offerings, but what about innovation and entrepreneurship? A major project is now in progress to identify spin-off companies from the University’s research and education. And the results are interesting.
“Uppsala University is a driving force for innovation, moving both entrepreneurship and society forward. It’s particularly impressive to see how much these companies contribute back to society in the form of tax revenues, but also how they promote employment and create many new jobs,” says Malin Graffner Nordberg, head of Uppsala University Innovation, who initiated the drive to identify companies originating from Uppsala University.
The project began in summer 2023 and aims to build up a picture of trends for innovation and spin-off companies originating at Uppsala University. So far 227 companies have been identified, established from the late 1990s to the present day. Of these, 193 are active, representing a wide spectrum of sectors, from life sciences to organisation and management development.
Most of the companies are engaged in pharmaceuticals and medical or biotechnology, and develop and sell products. The companies vary in size, with the majority, over 80 per cent, being microbusinesses with zero to ten employees. One of the companies in the data stands out in terms of size, with hundreds of employees. This is Olink Proteomics, which has grown enormously in recent years and will become a part of Thermo Fisher during 2024. In between these extremes, there are both small and medium-sized enterprises
Giving back to society
In total, the 193 companies have more than 2,000 employees. However, according to Graffner Nordberg, this figure does not reflect the full contribution these companies make to employment.
“We know that the companies also create job opportunities for consultants, for example, and other service providers and it’s important to bear this in mind, even though it’s hard to capture.”
Between 2017 and 2022, 80 per cent of the companies generated tax revenues totalling nearly SEK 4 billion during this period. In 2022 the companies had a combined turnover of more than SEK 5 billion. Most of the companies in the data were founded by researchers at Uppsala University.
On Innovation
The Celsius thermometer, the pregnancy test and drugs to fight Alzheimer’s disease all derive from research at Uppsala University – inventive and innovative since 1477!
Malin Graffner Nordberg, head of Uppsala University Innovation.
Graffner Nordberg notes that it is after all a rather complicated task to pick up all entrepreneurial activity deriving from research-based knowledge generated at the University.
“From 2010 onwards, the collection of data is more structured and systematic, but there is no way for us to verify that the survey picks up all the new companies started by the University’s researchers and students. This requires a dedicated effort, and having our ear to the ground.”
The ‘professor’s privilege’ gives freedom
Thanks to the ‘professor’s privilege’ rule in Sweden, it is the researchers themselves, not the University, that own the rights to the results they create. Consequently, the decision to start a company to bring new research-based products or services to the market is up to each individual researcher.
Support is available if desired. UU Innovation offers early-phase help in verifying and developing innovative ideas, and UU Invest AB can invest in new companies and actively participate in their business and strategy development.
“Uppsala University has well-developed support for innovations aimed at facilitating the process for those who want to commercialise their results or put them to use in some other way,” says Graffner Nordberg.
The survey will continue and Graffner Nordberg makes it clear that more companies will be added to the list, not just because of new companies being started.
“During the six months or so that we have been going, it’s happened that people have got in touch and told us their company is a spin-off from research or education here, that’s been fun. Another area we want to extend the survey to is the volume of external investments the University’s combined spin-offs have managed to attract over the years.”
Sara Gredemark
UU Innovation och UU Invest
- Between 2017 and 2023, UU Innovation has provided support to 850 new ideas from researchers and students and more than 100 companies have been started that are currently active.
- Since its inception in 2007, UU Innovation has helped with over 450 patent applications.
- Since it started in 1995, UU Invest has made investments in more than 120 companies.
- In 2023, UU Invest invested in six new companies and at the end of the year it had 50 companies in its portfolio.