UCL rated as a leading university for knowledge exchange five years in a row

UCL has been recognised as one of the top universities in England for knowledge exchange in Research England’s Knowledge Exchange Framework 2025 (KEF5), which came out today.

The framework, run by Research England, is published annually to assess how universities are performing in activities that positively impact the economy and wider society.

It highlights how universities are collaborating with external organisations, supporting local communities and helping to launch new ventures. Together, these activities are driving economic growth and boosting innovation across the UK.

UCL places a strong emphasis on knowledge exchange and has been rated one of the top institutions for this work in every KEF since the framework was launched in 2021.

This year, the university scored especially highly in the areas of research partnerships, working with business and working with the public and third sector and Intellectual Property (IP) and commercialisation, which were all being placed in the top bands in each of those categories.

Professor Geraint Rees, UCL’s Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement) said: “It’s fantastic to see our work in everything from new cancer therapies to quantum technology being recognised in this year’s KEF.

“These results show the real value of universities like UCL working side by side with business, government, the NHS and the public to translate ideas into real-world impact. By building these partnerships we not only deliver breakthroughs that change lives, but also help ensure the UK remains a global leader in innovation.

“KEF highlights what can be achieved when research and innovation are brought together, and we look forward to collaborating with even more partners to co-create change and accelerate impact.”

IP and commercialisation

One of the areas where UCL was highly recognised was IP and commercialisation. Over the last five years, 46 spinout businesses have been launched at UCL, taking novel university research and commercialising it into new technologies or treatments in areas like cancer and other diseases. Many of these businesses have been spun out with support from UCL Business (UCLB), UCL’s commercialisation company.

UCL spinout Endomag, for example, has used UCL research into the use of magnetic materials to take a new and less invasive approach to breast cancer staging. The technology can assess whether cancer has spread to lymph nodes, and can minimise invasive surgery. Importantly, it can be done in local hospitals, enabling women to much more easily access these vital procedures. UCL researchers Professor Quentin Pankhurst and Simon Hattersley, working with Professor Audrius Brazdeikis at the University of Houston, developed the injectable nanomagnet technology and external detectors, which eliminates the need for radioactive tracers in breast cancer staging.Endomag products are now used in over 1,000 hospitals in more than 45 countries with more than 550,000 women benefitting from the more precise and less invasive treatment to date. The impact of Endomag continues to grow, in July 2024 the company was acquired by Hologic Inc., a US med-tech company primarily focused on women's health.

Another healthcare spinout, Autolus, founded by Dr Martin Pule from the UCL Cancer Institute in 2014, is helping adults with leukaemia benefit from a new form of immunotherapy called CAR-T-cell therapy.

CAR-T is a new form of cancer treatment which takes a patient’s own T-cells and reprograms them so they can fight cancer cells in the body – but until recently, side effects and inability to tackle recurring cancers was an issue. Autolus has pioneered an important refinement to this transformative technology which reduces likelihood of side effects markedly and increases long term efficacy.

Since 2014 Autolus has raised over $1.1 billion to develop the new therapy, which has now been licensed for eligible patients in the US, UK and EU.

Partnerships

Alongside research being commercialised to develop new products and services, the university has also progressed with a number of prominent partnerships in the last year, working with industry, academia and government to develop next generation ideas and technologies.

In July, the university launched the UK’s first Global Industrial Technology Cooperation Centre with partners from South Korea, to advance hydrogen-based mobility technologies and help decarbonise ocean shipping.

A new London Quantum Technology Cluster has also been created, bringing together UCL, Imperial College London and King’s College London with partners, to position the capital as a global hub for quantum technology.

Meanwhile, Professor Paola Giunti (Head of the Ataxia Centre at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and at UCLH) and her team have collaborated with pharmaceutical company Biogen to progress a new treatment for a rare genetic disease called Friedreich’s ataxia.

In June, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approved the drug Omaveloxolone (Omav) to treat the condition in those aged 16 and over.

UCL’s Translational Research Office (TRO) worked closely with the UCL researchers and the industry partner to advance the research and bring the new therapy to market.

Student startups

Students and recent graduates are making an impact too, with many progressing their own business ideas and developing new skills through BaseKX, UCL’s entrepreneurship hub, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.

Jacob Wedderburn-Day (MSc Economics 2016) accessed the free support to co-found his own startup Stasher, with support from the Hatchery incubator programme, located at BaseKX and run by UCL Innovation & Enterprise.

Stasher provides a secure, budget-friendly solution for travellers, allowing them to book insured luggage storage at vetted local businesses like hotels and shops. The startup has partnered with companies including Booking.com, Premier Inn and Expedia.

The business now operates in over 1,000 cities across 75 countries, with plans to expand further this year.

Victoria Ndoh (MSc in Ethnographic Documentary Filmmaking 2019) also benefitted from the Hatchery to launch her own product: a necklace called Vactraca, through her startup Nodanni LTD.

The necklace offers mothers in low-income countries a new way to keep track of their children’s routine immunisation records and avoid vaccine-preventable diseases.

Victoria is now working with the government in South Sudan to pilot 2,000 Vactracas in refugee and displaced person camps.

More than 400 new student startups have been created at UCL in the last five years. Between them they’ve raised over £356 million in investment and currently employ more than 1,900 people (HEBCI 2019 to 2024).

UCL President & Provost, Dr Michael Spence, said: “It is great to once again receive this excellent result from KEF. Validation from external bodies such as Research England underline the diverse partnerships and projects underway across our university, work we are immensely proud of and will continue to champion.”