Helen Lau, Director of Business Engagement and Research Impact at the University of Birmingham, corporate partner at the CBI Midlands Business Dinner 2025, reflects on the role of universities as drivers of R&D-led economic growth.
The UK is known for its innovation and entrepreneurship and ranks high in the WIPO Global Innovation Index (5th amongst high-income countries and 3rd in Europe). Yet between 2021 and 2023, business R&D expenditure in the UK dropped by 6%, a £3.4bn loss in real terms. In today's rapidly evolving global economy and with the recent renewed focus on the UK's industrial strategy, the role of universities increasingly extends beyond education, into supporting and driving local and national innovation.
Education is still the cornerstone of universities, but it is also deeply embedded in the local and national economy in other ways. In 2021/22, for example, the University of Birmingham contributed £4.4bn to the UK economy - more than the Midlands car manufacturing industry (£3.5bn).
The University of Birmingham has long incubated groundbreaking ideas and technologies and our engagement with business is integral to transforming those ideas and technologies into impact. Our collaboration with bus
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