51³Ô¹ÏÍø

51³Ô¹ÏÍø has been named the Outstanding Entrepreneurial University of 2025 for its work on scaling innovation from West London to the world.

The prize at the in Edinburgh was given in recognition of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s efforts to harness the university's innovation for global impact and expand opportunities for entrepreneurship in the UK and abroad.

Since its founding in 1907, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø has put innovation and entrepreneurship at the heart of its mission. The university’s Science for Humanity strategy, launched in 2024, reaffirmed its commitment to empowering students and academics to translate scientific discoveries into solutions with real-world impact for global challenges.

This award celebrates the thousands of students, researchers, and partners who make 51³Ô¹ÏÍø such an extraordinary home for innovation and entrepreneurship. Ben Mumby-Croft Director of Entrepreneurship at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø

51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s unique entrepreneurial ecosystem is key to this mission, through initiatives and facilities such as the , Advanced Hackspace, the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Incubator and the climate innovation centre . This world-leading ecosystem supports science-based entrepreneurs with taking their idea and turning them into startups, scaleups and - ultimately - global businesses.

In 2024, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø was named Europe’s leading large university (£1bn+) for startup creation by the Redstone University Startup Index, and both the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Enterprise Lab and Undaunted were ranked among Europe’s top 60 startup hubs by the Financial Times.

Ben Mumby-Croft. Director of Entrepreneurship at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, said: "This award celebrates the thousands of students, researchers, and partners who make 51³Ô¹ÏÍø such an extraordinary home for innovation and entrepreneurship. It also shows what our new institutional strategy Science for Humanity looks like in action — brilliant ideas becoming brilliant ventures, challenging the status quo and changing lives for good."

Global ambition

In 2024, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø launched the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Global network which aims to scale inclusive innovation around the world, with strategically located hubs in the USA, Singapore, Ghana and India. 

This award reflects the dedication, creativity and hard work of our entire team in supporting founders to start and scale cleantech businesses that are building a sustainable future. Alyssa Gilbert Director of Undaunted

These hubs promote international collaboration and market access, and through them, the university has supported 30 student and academic founders to build relationships and explore new markets via the .

Meanwhile, Undaunted played a leading role in co-developing the Earthshot Climate Innovation Network last year – a coalition of 17 global accelerators aiming to scale 10,000 eco-innovations this decade.

, Director of Undaunted, said: "We are immensely proud to be recognised as the Times Higher Education Outstanding Entrepreneurial University. This award reflects the dedication, creativity and hard work of our entire team in supporting founders to start and scale cleantech businesses that are building a sustainable future."

Expanding access

Earlier this year, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø announced that it will lead the development of a new national network for women entrepreneurs, WE Innovate National, working with universities in all four nations of the UK. 

Partnering with Queen’s University Belfast, a WE Innovate pilot supported 50 teams this year, culminating in a £60,000 Grand Final which saw 51³Ô¹ÏÍø teams showcasing ideas for soil regeneration and innovative plaster designs to accelerate healing.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø also launched the inaugural in partnership with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Commonwealth Scholarships Commission. From over 1,400 applicants, 20 founders from low- and middle-income countries joined a six-month programme, which included a bootcamp at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Global Ghana and a London showcase.

Supporting breakthrough innovation

Alongside this work, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø remains a leader in technology transfer and academic entrepreneurship.  

Recent success stories from the past year include: 

• Myricx Bio, a cancer therapy spinout based on research carried out at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø and the Francis Crick Institute, raised £90m - one of the UK’s largest Series A rounds. 
• 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s flagship White City Incubator won the West London Business Award for Best Incubator and Co-working Space. 
• Material design spinout Polaron won the first £1m Manchester Prize, a government-run competition support breakthroughs in artificial intelligence for the public good. 

51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Founders Choice equity model – the UK’s most founder-friendly approach – also offers researchers flexibility while supporting long-term university partnership. The model is shaping best practice through the TenU network, which brings together world-leading universities in the UK and abroad. The TenU network includes the University of Cambridge, Columbia University, University of Edinburgh, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, KU Leuven, University of Manchester, MIT, University of Oxford, Stanford University, and UCL.

Institutional influence

51³Ô¹ÏÍø has also worked to use its reputation and convening ability to help entrepreneurs access legal support and mentoring more easily. 

The university is part of the , run with Bloomberg and 12 top law firms, which has delivered more than £6m in pro bono legal support to over 36 startups. This collaboration won ESG Programme of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2024 and Most Effective Pro Bono Partnership at the LawWorks Pro Bono Awards 2023. 

51³Ô¹ÏÍø Enterprise Lab also supports a community of practice for enterprise educators, , which now has more than 120 members globally and has helped launch a range of new services. In 2023/24, the network supported the University of Sussex in developing their own Experts-in-Residence model, based on 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s service of the same name.

Read more about 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s innovation ecosystem here.

Main image credit: Times Higher Education.