Written something for @wonkhe on the role of unis in trade & investment, particular in local economies.

This first blog focuses on FDI into uni R&D & our @InnovationMids @midsengine @MEUniversities @beisemsem @UKSINet supported Pilot in the Midlands

Key points in a⏱🧵⬇️…

2. Unis do actually get quite a bit of FDI into their own research & KE activities… this is recorded by @ukhesa in Table 5.

On ave across the 15 unis in the Midlands, FDI is about 37% of industry funding for research. But big variations between unis

Regional disparity clear

3. FDI into uni R&D tends to fall into three broad categories…

4. Most unis have never really thought that much about FDI from specific locations…

Indeed beyond “overseas” & “overseas (EU)” we haven’t had to track where industry funding has come from. The NSIA & Trusted Research agenda is already changing this…

5. However, where things get really interesting is how unis might help local partners & national govt address a fairly major challenge in attracting FDI into regional economies (& maximising the “stickiness” of it once its there).

Brexit & the pandemic have hammered UK FDI

6. In England at least, responsibility for trade & investment is a mess of different orgs, geogs, capabilities & initiatives.

I tried to map this out for the Midlands…

Unis are involved in HPOs, Freeports & big things like @WMGrowth but DIT don’t get unis beyond TNE & ISR

7. So in this context, what do unis do?

How can we help our local partners & UK economy? We think there is clear mutual benefit here.. not least because other countries (Scotland!!) do it

This is an opp for unis to leverage their global connections for tangible civic benefit

8. This is what we will be exploring over the next year - working with orgs from across the Midlands & the UK inc @UUKIntl @UKSINet @HEPI_news @NCUBtweets @BritishCouncil @WMREDI @beisgovuk @UKRI_News @innovateuk… & some fantastic colleagues tagged below.