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Learn more about context in which this new strategy has been developed.
UCL is at the forefront of innovative thinking and new knowledge, developing our research excellence in collaboration with our partners and wider community. Today, as the world rapidly changes around us, UCL is using its unique position to mobilise, translate and apply research and knowledge that makes a tangible impact on pressing global issues.
Shape and scale
UCL’s distinctive scale and disciplinary breadth allow us to act as a convenor, influencer and enabler across industry, policy, health, cultural and community sectors.
Our eleven faculties produce world-leading multidisciplinary research, focusing cross-institutional expertise and investing resources on a diverse range of ‘big issues’, from AI, the climate crisis and cancer, to cultural heritage, energy and mental health and wellbeing.
UCL’s campus locations, in Bloomsbury, central London and in Stratford, East London with UCL East at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, are well placed to partner with local business, international industry, collaborate across UCL’s large hospitals network and engage in multilevel policymaking.
Together, these strengths allow us to seize new opportunities, take risks, scale ambitions and develop solutions to global challenges.
External environment
The UK is striving for 'innovation-led growth' to accelerate economic recovery, increase productivity and deliver social and economic prosperity through research, development and innovation.
With this, attention on university knowledge exchange is growing, with the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) measuring and benchmarking performance, the Knowledge Exchange Concordat (KEC) advocating best practice, and the Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessing research quality, outcomes and environment for creation of impact.
This work is supported by the national funding bodies and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), facilitating a variety of funding streams, including the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), the newly launched Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) supporting “high risk, high reward” research, and the eight Research Councils providing funding for research and impact related activity across all disciplines.
With emphasis on innovating our way to economic prosperity, pressure is increasingly on universities to maximise the use of public funding and partner more effectively and consistently with external organisations to leverage investment, while delivering high levels of research and development impact that will kickstart and drive economic growth and prosperity.
Knowledge exchange and innovation values
At the core of this strategy are the values which underpin our activities, where we strive for a culture that emphasises the effective exchange of knowledge, the mutual benefit and accountability of collaborative engagement, and the building of trusted relationships for safe, sustainable, long lasting, positive impact.
As a UCL community, we will:
- be fair and inclusive, acting with respect in engaging with a broad range of collaborators and ensuring diversity is represented through our partnerships.
- act ethically, responsibly and with diligence and integrity in determining our ways of working, maintaining the high standards of conduct set by UCL and our external partners.
- balance the principles of open innovation and science in our processes, while respecting the importance of confidentiality and due process in our activities where appropriate.
The UCL knowledge exchange and innovation ecosystem: Pathways to partnerships and impact
Our internal environment provides support for academic led and strategic activity.
With support for activities ranging from UCL spinouts and startups, the translation of clinical research, collaborative and contract research, public policy engagement and the inclusive nature of our public, patient, and community programmes, UCL enhances the growth and development of partnerships across London and beyond.
This distinctive cross-institutional ecosystem of support, funding and facilitation enables a broad range of knowledge exchange and innovation pathways that applies, translates, and creates change from our multidisciplinary approach to research and collaboration.