Research Partnerships

Our partnerships are far-reaching and diverse. Successful businesses are crucial for economic growth and we believe that by partnering with us we can help to grow and continue the success of your business.  

Research Impact

We have created an effective innovation ecosystem at the University of Birmingham, to enable the most impactful social and economic change by delivering innovative products and services. Our academics work effectively with business through a range of meaningful knowledge exchange activities, while at the same time, acting as a commercial function for the University, to generate income through our business work. Currently, over two-thirds of our research active academics are involved to some degree with business-related activities and our cutting-edge research across all funder channels contributes £885M to the economy annually. Every £1 million invested in research at the University results in an additional economic output of £5 million.

Alongside our research collaboration activities, there are a number of other business services we offer, such as academic consultancy, spinouts, IP and licensing and business incubation.

How we work with business

We take pride in our award-winning approach to working with business, with dedicated account management teams, many of whom are drawn from industry, and by developing innovative approaches to partnerships and collaboration, IP and licensing and our consultancy offerings to develop products and services.  We quickly understand the appropriate businesses that would benefit from our research and other activities and work to ensure the best outcomes for all, at local, national and international levels.

Businesses working with the University of Birmingham:

We support a full range of engagements, from non-financial activity, working with companies to showcase ideas or improve investment and growth outcomes through events and lectures, such as the Shared Parental Leave forum at the House of Commons this year, or the Pitch Up programme, through to multi-million research awards, while also ensuring we work effectively with the incredibly innovative SMEs in the region, such as Salts Healthcare, or the Hyperscale Group. We also work with businesses to deliver CSR and philanthropy programmes, such as in widening higher education participation or through sustainability programmes. 

Addressing business issues

We offer a number of support initiatives for businesses, from sector specific regional impact programmes for SMEs to strategic R&D projects funded by Innovate UK, such as Smart grants and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP). KTPs are a mechanism which embeds knowledge and expertise from the University, via a Graduate, into the business, in order to deliver impact and productivity to the bottom line; and are available for companies of any size.