Evaluation: Research England’s Shared Technology Transfer Office Pilot Programme

Date

2023

Client

UKRI – Research England

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An evaluation of 13 Shared TTO pilot projects, evidencing strong early stage commercialisation outcomes, shared resources and collaboration models, and clear potential for scalable approaches to strengthen spin out capacity across universities with less experience or smaller portfolios.

Research Consulting, in partnership with Knowledge Exchange UK, was commissioned by Research England to undertake an independent evaluation of the Shared Technology Transfer Office (TTO) Functions Pilot, funded through the Connecting Capability Fund – Research England Development Fund (CCF RED). The pilot sought to test whether shared TTO models could help universities with smaller research portfolios improve their ability to develop and spin out commercially viable research.

The six month evaluation examined 13 collaborative pilot projects involving 81 organisations, including 47 higher education providers and multiple research institutes, investors and private sector partners. Projects explored a variety of models for sharing TTO capacity, covering joint training programmes, shared opportunity review processes, co developed toolkits, regional innovation ecosystems, and early stage governance and policy alignment. Despite the compressed delivery period, most projects achieved significant progress and delivered a breadth of outcomes.

Across the portfolio, more than 320 commercial opportunities were assessed, at least six spin outs progressed toward formation, and over 850 researchers, TTO staff and students received commercialisation training. The pilots also generated substantial legacy assets, including shared guides, templates, digital workflows, and collaborative operating models that can be scaled or adapted nationally. Several projects demonstrated clear pathways for sustained collaboration, supported by HEIF funding, regional partnerships, or further grant awards.

The evaluation concludes that shared TTO approaches can meaningfully strengthen commercialisation capacity for less experienced universities—particularly in early stage pipeline development, opportunity assessment and investor engagement. The report provides detailed recommendations for enhancing shared models, curating sector wide resources, and informing future Research England funding to maximise long term impact.

This was commissioned by Research England as an independent evaluation of the Connecting Capability Fund (CCF) Shared Technology Transfer Office (TTO) Pilot Programme. It was led by Knowledge Exchange UK, working with Research Consulting Ltd.

Chief Business Officer at Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Horizons, and author of ‘Deepening university-investor links: a review’, Tony Hickson, said:“The evidence from this pilot reinforces a central finding of my review: that sharing technology transfer capability can help create clearer, more investable pathways for spin outs, particularly in regions or sectors where scale and specialist expertise are harder to access.”Associate Director Sector Engagement at Knowledge Exchange UK, Tamsin Mann, said:“Throughout the Shared TTO pilot evaluation we were acutely aware of the expectations and spotlight put on research commercialisation, against a background of wider financial pressures across the UK university sector.But the level of enthusiasm that the project team saw through our engagement with pilot institutions and partners was both rewarding and inspiring for the future of research commercialisation.Our hope is that they will provide inspiration for wider activity across more universities to sustain change and innovation in research commercialisation for the long-term.”