Partnership with the University

Creating lasting value, together

Over nearly 40 years we’ve worked alongside researchers, staff and students at the University of Oxford to explore how their ideas can create measurable social, environmental and economic benefits across the UK and the world. What started as a small team working with a handful of projects has grown into a global innovation partnership, built on trust, expertise, and collaboration.

In those early years, we worked closely with researchers to support a handful of new companies. However, what we were building wasn’t just activity – it was trust. Trust that ideas could move beyond the lab or paper. Trust that collaboration with partners outside the University could strengthen, not dilute, academic work. And trust that innovation could be a force for public good.

Today, the University of Oxford is a vast, diverse and world-leading research community, consistently securing more research income than any other UK university. In 2023/24, the University generated £944.9m in research income, including £778.9m from externally funded grants and contracts, alongside sustained investment from global industry partners.

Our work with them spans the breadth of their world-leading research portfolio and includes all four of the academic divisions: Medical Sciences; Mathematics, Physical and Life Sciences; Social Sciences; and Humanities - as well as the University’s Gardens, Libraries and Museums.

Turning ideas into impact at scale

As the innovation partner of the University of Oxford, we pursue the shared goal of translating its world-leading academic knowledge and research into impact at scale.

The University’s knowledge and research form the core inputs to our work – creating a continuous flow of enquiries and invention disclosures from researchers, staff and students looking to take their ideas further.

£778.9m

External research funding*

279

Invention disclosures**

961

Consulting Services enquiries**

*Financial year 2023/24

**Financial year 2024/25

By turning ideas into companies, partnerships and practical solutions, we help create jobs, attract investment and contribute to economic growth.

To date, our work has supported a diverse range of ideas from mental health therapies to student-led ventures tackling global challenges, to technologies advancing the energy transition.

42%

Companies capture impact data

91%

Companies address UN SDGs

1.95bn

Users of Oxford companies’ products and services

Source: OUI Impact surveys 2023-25

Learn how impact-driven innovation is central to our Vision

Funding future innovation

The commercial success of Oxford-born companies like OrganOx and Oxford Ionics demonstrate the long-term impact of translating world-leading research into practical applications, but also the cyclical nature of innovation funding. Returns generated through licensing, investment and company creation are reinvested into the University – supporting further research, enabling proof-of-concept funding, and helping the next generation of Oxford ventures to emerge.

In fact, alongside Oxford University Press and the Oxford University Endowment, OUI is a key source of stable income for the University – in 2024/25, our activities generated £18.5m* in financial returns to the University and its researchers.

*Distributions of royalty and consulting income to the University, researchers and third parties with a contractual right to revenue sharing during financial year 2024/25. Finances are preliminary results, unaudited.

Supporting the University

In addition to working with researchers, staff and students, we work closely with Research Services, divisional teams and colleagues across the wider research support network to facilitate the process of turning ideas into impact at every stage.

As well as enabling impact by navigating pathways into licensing, consultancy and company creation, we make sure that innovation activity is visible and clearly connected to measurable outcomes – which is critical to supporting ongoing funding. For example, we work with the University to support their Research Excellence Framework (REF) impact reporting.

A male and two women are having a discussion together with a laptop open

A thriving innovation ecosystem

Our long-standing partnership with the University of Oxford is just one part of a powerful and connected innovation ecosystem of collaborators enabling ideas to move from discovery to impact at scale.

Explore our innovation ecosystem