What information it holds, or is planning to obtain, on the (a) number of start-up companies created since 1997 supported by the commercial…

At present, comprehensive information in the form requested in this question, and questions S1W-32711, S1W-32712 and S1W-32713, is not available. Information on commercialisation of university research is available from the UK Higher Education-Business Interaction (HE-BI) survey, which is based on activities reported by universities. This annual survey was commissioned in 2001 by the Higher Education Funding Council for England on behalf of a group of stakeholders, including the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. The UK report was published in December 2001 by the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies at the University of Newcastle and is available at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/Pubs/hefce/2001/01_68.htm. Key Scottish results have been published in the Scottish Economic Report January 2002 and is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/finance/ser5-11.asp, based on the responses from 17 Scottish institutions. For the academic year 1999-2000, 37 new spin-off companies were reported in which the Higher Education Insititution (HEI) held equity, compared with a total of 54 in the preceding five years. There are presently no reliable data on the number of companies started where the HEI had some interest but no equity ownership. Of the 17 Scottish HEIs which responded to the survey, 16 had an equity share in at least one spin-off company. One hundred and twenty-two licensing agreements were reported by Scottish HEIs in 1998-99 and 114 in 1999-2000, the only years for which figures are available. Total revenues from Intellectual Property Rights (including income from licensing agreements as well as royalties on patents and copyrights) accruing to Scottish universities were reported as £6.9 million in 1998-99 and £7.7 million in 1999-2000. Results for the 2000-01 academic session are expected to be published for the UK shortly; the Scottish Executive will provide an analysis of the Scottish results.Information on the commercialisation activity of the Scottish Agricultural and Biological Research Institutes (SABRIs) has been collected since 2000 and is included in their annual reports. On average each year, for financial years 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2002-03 (estimate), the SABRIs have filed 10 new patents, there have been 70 new licences and two new spin-out companies. Income from Intellectual Property Rights has amounted to approximately £650,000 annually.Improving the commercialisation of university and research institute research is a high priority for the Executive and we have set a target of assisting 150 joint academic and industry ventures by 2006. It is important that suitable measures are available to assess the extent and value of commercialisation activity. The UK HE-BI survey is relatively new, and the intention is to develop it further. At this stage it is not possible to say whether future surveys will include the additional items covered by these parliamentary questions, since the cost of collection and extent to which universities and other bodies are able to provide them will need to be assessed. Developing better measures of commercialisation activity is also currently being considered as part of the Review of the UK Research Assessment Exercise in which the Executive is participating.