Your innovation partner

For University leadership, Heads of Division, Divisional Registrars, Heads of Department and Heads of Administration: discover how we help translate Oxford’s knowledge and research into impact at scale.

A near 40-year partnership

As your innovation partner, Oxford University Innovation (OUI) works with divisions, departments, schools, and faculties across the University of Oxford to pursue our shared goal of translating Oxford’s world-leading academic knowledge and research into impact at scale.

For nearly 40 years, we’ve been helping staff and students navigate the journey from ideas to impact across the full breadth of Oxford’s research portfolio. 

Over that time, we’ve built trusted relationships across the University – trust that ideas can move beyond the lab or paper, that external collaboration can strengthen academic work, and that innovation can be a force for public good.

Whether identifying and protecting intellectual property (IP), creating and growing companies, facilitating consultancy opportunities, or nurturing an inclusive innovation pipeline, we work closely with academic and operational leadership teams to help create the conditions for innovation to succeed.

Three women outside an office building having a discussion

Enabling innovation across the University

The University’s world-leading 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*

£148.0m

Research income from industry*

279

Invention disclosures**

961

Consulting Services enquiries**

*Financial year 2023/24 
**Financial year 2024/25 

Our long-term partnership with divisions, departments, researchers, students and professional services teams help us grow and diversify Oxford’s innovation pipeline, while ensuring innovation activity is supported in a way that reflects the priorities and culture of the University.

Impact doesn’t follow a single path; it’s a connected system. Licensing, company creation and growth, and consultancy – these work together in an innovation ecosystem, reinforcing and strengthening each other. Our work has enabled a diverse range of ideas, from mental health therapies and student-led ventures tackling global challenges to technologies advancing the energy transition.

How we work together

We work across all four academic divisions – Medical Sciences, Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities – as well as the University’s Gardens, Libraries and Museums.

As the University’s innovation partner, we understand that every division, department, school and faculty operates differently. Our role is to provide trusted expertise, practical support, and clear guidance that helps academic and operational teams manage innovation activity confidently and responsibly.

We support the University by:

  • Working across the University to put the right foundations in place for new ideas
  • Helping protect and manage ideas by shaping research agreements, securing appropriate intellectual property (IP) terms, and clarifying ownership and funder requirements
  • Guiding Founders through pitching and funding to help scale innovations
  • Collaborating with Business Development teams and Research Facilitators to build external partnerships
  • Supporting pathways towards licensing, consultancy, and company creation and growth
  • Supporting departments, schools and faculties with governance processes relating to outside appointments and conflicts of interest connected to company activity, including OA1 requirements and evolving management plans
  • Managing the University’s existing equity stakes in spinouts and the investment funds of the University

By working in partnership, we help ensure innovation activity is well-supported, appropriately governed, and aligned with the University’s Strategic plan 2025-30 – which highlights the importance of ‘Impact through innovation’.

Visibility and reporting

Clear visibility of innovation activity is increasingly important across the University.

We provide Heads of Department and Heads of Administration with access to live dashboards, helping leadership teams monitor and understand innovation activity within their area.

These dashboards provide visibility of:

  • IP projects
  • Companies in formation
  • Licensing activity
  • Consultancy agreements
OUI Head of Division report
Contact us to find out more about reporting

Demonstrating impact

We work in partnership with the University to support REF (Research Excellence Framework) impact reporting, with preparation for REF 2029 already underway. As REF plays a vital role in how the University secures government research funding, we help departments demonstrate the reach and significance of Oxford’s research by identifying and developing strong impact case studies and providing data that captures how innovation activity born from Oxford research has translated into measurable long-term impact.

Creating a cycle of innovation

Our work doesn’t just give rise to individual successes. It also sustains future research. 

Financial returns generated through licensing and company creation are reinvested back into the University, helping to fund future research, support proof-of-concept activity and enable the next generation of ideas. It’s a continuing cycle, where today’s breakthroughs help power tomorrow’s discoveries.

Alongside Oxford University Press and the Oxford University Endowment, OUI is an important source of 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.

‘Oxford University Innovation has been instrumental in supporting my team and I through the formation of several spinouts this year - each with their own complexities involving external founders, investors, and collaborators. Their proactive approach, clear communication, and ability to navigate equity and policy matters with speed and precision made a real difference in securing early buy-in and moving swiftly towards investment.’ 

Professor Dame Molly Stevens 
Oxford Academic Champion for Women and Diversity in Entrepreneurship 

Oxford University Innovation sign mounted on the exterior wall of the building

Get in touch

We’d love to talk to you about how we can support you. Contact us and we’ll connect you with the right expertise within OUI.

Get in touch