Purpose of the evaluations
UK Research and Innovation has a responsibility to maximise value and outcomes from public money.
The publication of three independent evaluations commissioned by Research England provides an in-depth evidence base to assess the effectiveness of past knowledge exchange (KE) funding and to inform future policy decisions.
Two of these evaluations focus on evidencing the impacts of the £280 million HEIF, alongside demonstrating how the HEIF programme delivers value.
The third is focused on evaluating the outcomes of the first wave of the CCF, against the objectives of the programme.
A quantitative assessment
This evaluation produced by national KE metrics adviser to Research England, Tomas Coates Ulrichsen, found that HEIF makes a positive and significant contribution to securing impacts through KE.
Drawing on different approaches, the study finds a significant total return on investment (ROI) figure for the programme of £14.9 for every £1 of HEIF invested.
This incorporates information on the impacts realised through spinouts, and from KE activities that are hard to monetise.
The previous comparable ROI analysis covering the period 2015 to 2016 to 2018 to 2019 suggested a return of £10.1 for every £1 of HEIF invested.
Key findings
In addition to the headline figure for the overall funding programme, other key findings include:
- approximately 38% of KE outputs and incomes would not have happened in the absence of HEIF
- HEIF is particularly valuable for supporting the commercialisation of research through technology transfer and other routes, for supporting student startups, and for enabling the higher education providers (HEP) to realise impacts from its physical assets.
- a new analysis for this report evidences the important role that HEIF is playing in supporting and enabling student entrepreneurship. 53% of student startups in receipt of formal business or enterprise support from the HEP were attributable to HEIF, and the analyses suggest the return to HEIF investment in supporting student entrepreneurship and enterprise is £15.6 for every £1 invested
The growing importance of HEIF in delivering impactful knowledge exchange is consistent with evidence elsewhere of the benefits of flexible funding for KE.
This enables HEPs to navigate increasingly uncertain and turbulent times, to tackle major headwinds and open up new opportunities for engagement.
Read more in the full report: a quantitative assessment of the ROI of Research England’s HEIF (PDF, 3.5MB)
Major qualitative evaluation of HEIF
This major exercise was produced by PA Consulting.
It assessed the effectiveness of HEIF in supporting HEPs to deliver KE activities aligned with government priorities, and produced novel approaches to describing how the programme generates value.
The evaluation found that HEIF was highly effective in catalysing institutional and sectoral transformations between 2008 to 2020, stemming from its flexibility and stability, alongside its accountability requirements.
Key findings
A sample of key findings showed:
- HEIF’s stability embedded KE within institutional structures enabling sustainable and more effective activities (and therefore a high ROI), and such capacity enabled institutions to pivot resources to respond to unforeseen events and priorities
- HEIF’s flexibility both reduced risk in the innovation stages by bridging gaps in early stage funding, and allowed tailoring of projects to maximise the impact and relevance of KE initiatives including meeting specific regional needs;
- HEIF was effective in upskilling small and medium sized enterprises to address regional and sectoral needs by providing targeted support to address skills gaps
Notably the evaluation also concluded that the ROI from HEIF likely exceeded the monetary KE income alone, and so the ROI calculations likely represent the lower bounds of the value of the programme.
Read more Evaluation of the HEIF programme: 2008 to 2020
Connecting Capability Fund final evaluation
This final evaluation, produced by Wellsprings Ltd (previously IP Pragmatics), concludes the first wave of CCF funding which ran from 2017 to 2023.
The first wave of the CCF programme supported 18 projects totalling £100 million.
It aimed to deliver to government priorities through forging new partnerships to share good practice and capacity across the higher education sector.
The final evaluation builds on the two interim reports carried out by Wellsprings from the 2020 and 2021 interim report 2020 and update to interim report 2021.
The findings show the continuing impacts of these projects across the higher education sector.
Key highlights include:
- ROI of at least £7.70 for every £1 invested by Research England
- 12,969 newly trained people in enterprise skills
- 214 spin-outs formed
Read more Final evaluation of the Connecting Capability Fund (CCF) programme
Sector engagement
These evaluations required the time and input of institutions and wider members across the higher education sector who contributed data, research and interviews.
Research England would like to thank all those involved in supporting these evaluations.
The gathering of robust evidence demonstrating the value these KE programmes deliver is instrumental in reinforcing the importance of continued investment to inform the development of KE programmes.
Top image: Credit: Eddy, S A+ via Getty Images
