Northern Universities Offer More Bang For Buck

Perhaps life science companies are better at life science marketing in the North of England than the South, new research suggests.

This is as life science companies in the North of England have been found to be outperforming those in the South, despite a significant funding gap.

Research has shown that hospitals, universities and companies based in Northern towns and cities are gaining far more patents than you would expect, compared to their peers in the South.

You get much for bang for your buck with a team of Northern researchers than Southerners it seems, as while London researchers came up with 401 patents over the past 10 years, there were 386 produced in the North, over the same period.

This is particularly impressive when you consider the fact that the North of England received just 13.5 per cent of health research funding, compared to 32.1 per cent for London.

This has led to calls for a concerted effort to ensure there is more funding available for Northern Universities, with Newcastle and Durham leading the call for action.

NHSA chief executive Dr Hakim Yadi said: “There is no doubt that the North of England is an energised exciting place to do health research and the fact that it outstrips Oxford or Cambridge in its ability to produce novel inventions, despite seeing much less support in terms of funding, demonstrates that irrefutably.”

The research was commissioned by the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) an alliance of eight universities and four science networks.