Brian McNicoll, Head of the University of Dundee's Centre for Entrepreneurship (Left), and Christopher Smyth, Head of Enterprise at the University.
Dundee named Innovative & Entrepreneurial University of the Year in European Triple E Awards
The Triple E Awards are a global recognition of efforts towards the quest for entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education. The awards aim to foster change in universities and to emphasise universities’ role in their communities and ecosystems. Dundee was recognised as championing an entrepreneurial culture, with enterprise and engagement standing alongside teaching and research as key pillars of its activity.
Dr David McBeth, Vice-Principal (Enterprise and Economic Transformation), said, “This honour recognises Dundee’s commitment to developing entrepreneurship among our students, alumni and staff and places Dundee at the forefront of innovative practice among European universities.
“We have a strong track record stretching back many years in creating new businesses based on world-leading science, especially in health and life sciences, and our enterprising staff and students. Both our Centre for Entrepreneurship and our Research & Innovation Services have been regularly cited as leaders in terms of innovative and impactful practices for supporting start-up and spin-out companies.
“We are continuing to strengthen and invest in our innovation pipeline, including with the establishment of a new Life Sciences Innovation Hub in Dundee, a significant addition to Scotland’s capacity to grow and retain new companies, and this award will only further boost our efforts.”
The winners of the Triple E European Awards 2024 were announced during the 2024 ACEEU Europe-Africa Forum taking place this week in Lisbon.
The Triple E Awards is just the latest recognition of Dundee’s excellence in supporting enterprise and innovation. In 2023, the University was named the UK’s best for supporting spinout business, ahead of traditional powerhouses such as Oxford, Cambridge and UCL, in the independent report compiled by Octopus Ventures.
You can find out more about the Triple E Awards here.
This ranking was determined by factors such as number of patents, spin-out companies created and recent portfolio success, which for Dundee included the £2.2 billion IPO (Oct 21) of Exscientia on the US NASDAQ, one of the largest ever UK university spin-out company exits.