A new career development route for academics wishing to focus on commercialisation and engagement with industry has been launched at the University.
The Innovation Career Pathway elevates innovation alongside traditional research metrics such as research output and teaching contributions.
The Pathway includes a new UK-first Competency Framework that sets out the skills, knowledge and behaviours required to support advancement.
The move is an important step in continuing to grow an innovative and entrepreneurial culture at the University, where research and innovation are equally supported.
Central to the Innovation Pathway is a new Innovation Careers Hub, which provides 20 learning and development opportunities, information for hiring managers and detail about Innovation Fellowships and current Fellows, who are given the time, resources, and support necessary to develop and implement ground-breaking ideas.
Innovation is one of the University’s most important routes to maximising economic and social impact. The more our ideas get taken up through commercialisation and industry engagement, the more benefit we bring to society, in new therapeutics for patients, renewable energy technologies or responsible AI, for example. The Innovation Career Pathway demonstrates the jmportance our University places on innovation – and that this strand of activity belongs squarely in the scope of an academic career, alongside teaching, research, and leadership.
An independent economic impact report in 2023 found that every £1 spent by the University produced £6.90 in economic benefit across the UK, amounting to £7.52 billion per year for the UK economy.
It also found that the University supports more than 32,760 jobs across the UK.
In September, the University announced that, as part of the Edinburgh and South-East Scotland City Region Deal, it had supported 500 businesses to secure more than £200 million of investments – four times the initial target – over half of which were registered within the city region area.
Universities have traditionally viewed pure research and teaching as their core missions, which of course they still are, but for a research discovery to actually improve lives it needs to leave the lab. That’s when working with industry to develop a drug, or getting investment into a company that has groundbreaking technology, comes in. For budding academic innovators and entrepreneurs, the ICP will be a huge resource and support.
Backing our spinouts – academic-launched companies built around ground-breaking, novel technologies – requires funding, training and, most of all, an entrepreneurial culture. This pioneering approach is a key part of what we need to turn the dial on innovation and unlock economic growth in the UK.
