Midlands Innovation has today [8 April 2026] launched 'A New Era of Commercialisation', a landmark report showcasing the scale and accelerating momentum of the Midlands’ university driven innovation ecosystem. The findings demonstrate that the Midlands is on a journey to becoming one of the UK’s most investable regions for deep tech, life sciences and advanced manufacturing commercialisation.
Bringing together comprehensive data on research excellence, spinout performance, investment flows and grow-on infrastructure, the report sets out a clear and unified message: the Midlands is entering a new phase of innovation-led growth. This shift is being driven by the first regionwide alignment of universities, capital, talent programmes, and physical infrastructure.
The report launch follows shortly after Innovate UK set out its new national prospectus for accelerating deep tech commercialisation; a strategy focused on helping breakthrough ideas become scalable, globally competitive companies. The Midlands’ unified approach directly mirrors this national direction, reinforcing the relevance and timeliness of the region’s coordinated commercialisation efforts.
The Midlands ecosystem can be explored in full and engaged with for free at midlands.dealroom.co
A turning point for the Midlands
Despite historically receiving just 1% of UK venture capital investment into university spinouts, the Midlands’ underlying performance is exceptionally strong. Midlands university spinouts match the productivity and growth rates of leading institutions in the Golden Triangle yet have historically been undercapitalised. The report shows that this imbalance now represents a significant opportunity.
With the scale, talent and systems now in place, the Midlands is positioned to accelerate far beyond historic investment patterns and play a central role in delivering the UK’s modern industrial strategy.
The report highlights:
- A worldclass knowledge base with the capacity to deliver growth at scale:
20 universities, nearly 30,000 researchers, and £6bn in research funding secured between 2019–24 form one of the UK’s most substantial and diverse innovation engines. - A proven and growing pipeline of high-quality companies:
More than 350 university spinouts, with over 200 independently active today across deep tech, life sciences, energy, advanced manufacturing and creative technologies -supported by a pipeline capable of generating 20 new spinouts every year. - The physical and organisational infrastructure to support expansion:
74 science parks and more than 4,600 hectares of future research and industrial development land give the region the space and facilities required for companies to scale. - A major opportunity for investors to back a high-performing ecosystem:
Analysis suggests Midlands universities could absorb more than £2bn of investment over the next decade, supporting new IP-rich spinouts and unlocking significant commercial and economic returns.
Major pan-regional developments
The report demonstrates how the Midlands is delivering coordinated, system-wide support across the innovation landscape; connecting researchers, founders, investors, industry partners, accelerators and talent pipelines into a single, joined-up ecosystem. These initiatives are not isolated interventions, together they form an integrated pathway from discovery and research translation through to commercialisation, investment and scale-up. These include:
- Midlands Innovation
A strategic research partnership of eight research‑intensive universities working together to strengthen the Midlands’ innovation ecosystem. Midlands Innovation provides the collaborative platform that underpins many of the region’s major initiatives; aligning university leadership, research strengths, specialist teams and talent across the research and innovation workforce to drive collective impact. It plays a central role in convening partners, shaping regional strategy, and ensuring the Midlands presents a coherent, investable proposition to government, industry and investors.
- Forging Ahead
A £16m Research England and university‑partner‑funded project, delivered through collaboration with 16 Midlands university partners and led by Loughborough University. Its goal is to accelerate the Midlands’ commercialisation ecosystem by expanding proven initiatives and trialling new approaches that increase spinouts, licensing and industry partnerships. A core element is a Peer‑to‑Peer Learning Programme with university commercialisation teams to share knowledge and good practice. The project is also building a stronger regional pool of commercial and IP expertise to help ventures scale, while creating a more connected environment for founders, support organisations and investors through coordinated networks and events.
- Midlands Mindforge
A patient capital investment company launched by eight Midlands Innovation universities, Midlands Mindforge is providing the long-term, risk tolerant investment required for deep tech and life sciences companies to grow. With its first investments now underway, it is anchoring a new era of university backed capital in the region.
- Midlands Ecosystem Platform (Dealroom)
Commissioned for three years, the platform provides free, open access to the region’s innovation landscape. It maps nearly 6,500 startups – including 350+ spinouts – alongside universities, science parks, accelerators and active investors, supporting deal origination, due diligence and performance tracking.
Together, these initiatives demonstrate a region acting with purpose and unity, aligning universities, investors, industry and public partners behind a shared mission. The Midlands is building a cohesive, confident ecosystem that is maturing rapidly and closely aligned with government ambitions for a modern industrial strategy.
A clear message: the Midlands is organised, investable and ready
Introducing the report, Joshua Hawkins, report author and Assistant Director at Midlands Innovation, said: “Commercialisation in the Midlands is on an incredible journey. It is already a strength, but what’s truly transformational is how the region is coming together to mature this vibrant ecosystem — attracting more capital and the talent needed to unlock unprecedented growth.
This report provides a baseline just before the full weight of these new projects really takes off, and our new Midlands Ecosystem Platform offers a transparent way to track that progress and get directly involved.”
Dan Parsons, Pro Vice Chancellor of Research & Innovation at Loughborough University and Project Lead for Forging Ahead added: “Forging Ahead is at the heart of ‘A New Era of Commercialisation’, reinforcing the ambition of the project and our partners to strengthen the Midlands ecosystem. The report demonstrates what an internationally competitive commercialisation ecosystem we have with physical clusters of IP-rich, innovative businesses.
Our collaboration of 16 partner universities has been established to support the creation of more spinouts – for them to scale here in the region they were founded, as well as attract more businesses and founders to want to locate here from elsewhere.
As the report sets out, the Midlands’ central location and its specialist facilities and science parks are all major pull factors in doing that. Through Forging Ahead, it is also our collective efforts working together with these science parks, investors, accelerator programmes, professional service organisations and partners, as one connected, ambitious ecosystem, that makes the Midlands unique.”
ENDS
