Getting the best out of the best: how businesses can use universities to their benefit

Britain lags behind other countries such as the USA and Japan in commercially exploiting the expertise of its universities, despite the world class research produced within the sector. The article explores the UK Government's response in terms of funding university‐business collaborations, and then the breadth of services that are available from universities. In a case study it examines i10, a collaboration between ten universities and colleges in the East of England designed to help business‐university collaboration. Three case studies follow, examining the broad range of work of their member institutions in helping different growing businesses, to show the wide variety of different services available from the university sector.