Government declines call for update to spinout review
The government has said that it is making “good progress” in implementing the recommendations of the independent review of university spinouts – and that this progress “supersedes” any need for a formal update.
The House of Commons Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee had called for the 2023 review to be revisited, saying that there remained a need to ensure that standardised terms around spinouts are fair.
The call came in the committee’s report on incentivising investment in the UK economy. The conclusions on spinouts leant heavily on evidence submitted (in August 2025) by the Startup Coalition, which called the government’s “victory lap” on spinouts premature and said that founders were still being “buried in red tape”.
But the government’s response to the committee’s report declines to reopen the 2023 review, saying that “delivery has moved on materially through a broader package of reforms and new evidence.” The independent review was led by University of Oxford vice chancellor Irene Tracey and Cambridge Innovation Capital managing partner Andrew Williamson, and made various recommendations about standardising practice around universities’ equity shares in spinout companies, as well as speeding up commercialisation processes.
The response highlights the Royal Academy of Engineering’s recent Spotlight on Spinouts report for 2026, saying that data on average university equity stakes over time suggests a “more founder-friendly approach”, though possibly tempered by a recent plateau:
Other measures highlighted in the government response include the creation of a national spinout database by Research England and its forthcoming patent register, the piloting of shared tech transfer offices, and investment in complementary programmes such as enterprise fellowships and venture doctorates.
The committee had also recommended that the government develop a joint programme with mayors, local authorities and universities to provide roadshow events aimed at attracting angel investors. The government concurs with this recommendation, saying that the Office for Investment’s place team has recently engaged in “targeted missions” in university ecosystems in London, Oxford and Cambridge.
Committee chair Liam Byrne has expressed his disappointment at the overall response, with the government partially accepting or rejecting some of the key recommendations around venture capital, public finance institutions, and regional access to banking. The committee has announced the launch of a new inquiry on entrepreneurship, which will include a focus on the UK’s innovation and commercialisation system.