UCL hosted Ekaterina Zaharieva, EU Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, and the EU Delegation to the United Kingdom this week, to discuss the vital role universities play in fostering growth.
As part of the Commissioner’s attendance at London Tech Week, where she introduced the European Commission’s new EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, she met with Professor Geraint Rees, Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation and Global Engagement) at UCL’s Bloomsbury campus. Also welcoming the delegation were Anne Lane (CEO, UCLB), Kathryn Walsh, (Executive Director, UCL Innovation & Enterprise) and Jane Kinghorn (Director, UCL Translational Research Office).
Topics they discussed included the role of universities in innovation hubs and districts, supporting academic startups, developing translational capabilities, and innovation ecosystems and culture.
Over the last five years more than 400 new student startups and 46 spinouts were started at UCL and have collectively raised more than £3.4 billion in external investment.
The EU delegation heard from Professor Lourdes Agapito (UCL Computer Science), who co-founded AI firm Synthesia, a digital media platform that allows users to create professional AI-generated videos simply by typing text. Founded in 2017 by a team of international researchers and entrepreneurs, in 2023 the London-based company became a unicorn, meaning it reached a market valuation of $1billion whilst still privately held.
The European Commission launched its startup strategy in May. It aims to make the EU the best place in the world to launch and grow technology-driven innovative companies, through fostering innovation-friendly regulation, improving access to finance and accelerating market uptake.
The same month, President of the European Council, António Costa, and President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, met with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London for the first EU-UK summit since the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. The leaders welcomed a renewed agenda for EU-UK cooperation, including implementation of a youth mobility scheme and the UK’s association with the Erasmus+ programme.
Professor Geraint Rees, UCL Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation and Global Engagement) said: “We were delighted to welcome Commissioner Zaharieva to UCL to discuss the central role of research-intensive universities in fostering innovation and growth and share some of UCL’s recent success in key areas. The EU’s new Startup and Scaleup Strategy is a fantastic step forward in helping to strengthen Europe’s innovation portfolio and it is heartening to see specific references to universities within this.”
UCL is actively strengthening and expanding its collaborative networks and partnerships across Europe, including through the Horizon Europe funding scheme.
Under Horizon Europe, UCL collaborated on 262 projects between 2021-2024, with a value of €181m. UCL was also the 4th most successful higher education institution in securing EU research funding under Horizon 2020.
Recent European collaborations include establishing a joint research centre with Inria – France’s National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology – aiming to advance artificial intelligence, and launching a Centre for NeuroArchitecture & NeuroDesign in collaboration with Research Institues of Sweden (RISE).
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- Ekaterina Zaharieva, EU Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, with Professor Geraint Rees, UCL Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation and Global Engagement), at UCL’s Bloomsbury campus.
