See your University’s impact on industry in real-time
Build your HEIF accountability statement, your LIPF bid, your industrial strategy, from one live view of your university’s private sector connections.
Universities are being asked a question they can’t currently answer
The government has tied university funding to IS-8 – and SIC codes can’t classify a single IS-8 sector. The University Industry Impact Explorer gives you the evidence base your funders are asking for, in one place.
And with Metro Dynamics and Favier Ltd, we can help you turn that evidence into a full University Industrial Strategy and funding programme.
One map. Every connection.
Four types of university–industry relationship, all in one place and cross-referenced against the UK Government’s eight Industrial Strategy priority sectors.
Spinouts
Your university’s commercial legacy, mapped. See spinout companies born directly from university IP, researcher founding, or tied investment.
Research Collaborations
Co-authored research publications between your institution and private sector companies – evidence of an active R&D relationship.
IUK Funding Partnerships
Joint Innovate UK-funded activity where your institution and a company have worked together, typically through KTPs and similar grants.
Alumni Leadership
Graduate records connected to active company directorships and founding roles, showing where your talent is leading the market.
IS-8 Sectors
Every connected company mapped against the UK Government’s eight Industrial Strategy priority sectors, so you can see your institution’s IS-8 footprint.
See your full industry footprint in one place
Stop piecing together spin-out counts, grant data, and collaboration records from separate sources. We pull together every company connection – spinouts, research collaborations, Innovate UK partnerships, alumni directors and founders – into a single map, filterable by IS-8 sector, company size, geography, and growth signals.
Find your next partner
Don’t just see you what you have, see what you what you’re missing. Gap Finder surfaces high-growth companies in your ecosystem that you aren’t yet formally partnered with. Innovative regional firms, familiar names without a relationship, local competition worth watching. Your next partnership is already in the data.
Know exactly where you stand on the IS-8
From 2026, HEIF funding depends on demonstrating measurable IS-8 outcomes and SIC codes can’t get you there. The UIIE applies The Data City’s Real-Time Industrial Classifications (RTICs) and IS-8 classification to every company in your ecosystem, giving you a defensible, real-time view of your IS-8 sector strengths, Innovate UK partnerships, ecosystem growth, and combined GVA.
Make a stronger case for funding
The £500m Local Innovation Partnership Fund is competitive and funders want data, not anecdotes. The Dashboard and Industrial Strategy views give you exportable evidence of your IS-8 ecosystem ready for accountability statements and bids. The Leaderboard ranks you against 264 UK universities across five impact dimensions so you know exactly where you stand and where to focus.
From data to institutional strategy in three steps
Map your ecosystem
Select your institution. The Explorer pulls together spinouts, research partners, Innovate UK co-funding, and alumni – linked to Companies House records and classified against IS-8 sectors. Filter by sector, company size, relationship type, and geography.
Understand your position
See where your institution sits within regional innovation clusters and national IS-8 priorities. Benchmark against peer institutions. Identify gaps in your evidence base and opportunities in emerging funding streams including the Local Innovation Partnership Fund.
Build your industrial strategy
Working with Metro Dynamics and Favier Ltd, turn insight into a coherent University Industrial Strategy – with targeted advocacy, HEIF accountability statement support, and a clear roadmap for the funding opportunities available to your institution.
Insight, Strategy, Advocacy
The University Industry Impact Explorer gives you the evidence. But data alone doesn’t secure funding or change institutional direction. That’s where our partners come in. Working alongside The Data City, Metro Dynamics and Favier Ltd offer two additional layers of support.
Strategy
Metro Dynamics and Favier Ltd take your Explorer data and combine it with a review of your institution’s research strengths and strategic goals — identifying where your IS-8 footprint aligns with regional priorities. The output is a practical University Industrial Strategy and internal roadmap of opportunities.
Advocacy
A targeted programme to turn your strategy into delivery – proposition development, stakeholder engagement, and funding bid support to secure growth investment from government and the private sector.
Book a demo today
We’re working with a small group of universities to refine the Explorer before full launch. Alpha participants get early access, a direct line to the product team, and pricing that won’t be available once we open to the market. Fill in the form to find out more and book a demo.
Hear from our customers
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“The Data City platform is very easy to use.”
Raquel Ortega-Argilés
Professor of Regional Economic Development
Manchester Alliance Business School -
“The data helps people tell the stories they want to tell.”
Owen Garling
Knowledge Transfer Facilitator
Bennett Institute for Public Policy -
“SIC Codes often miss many companies that interest us. RTICs allow us to find these companies.”
Tom Carnay
Innovation Programme Lead
University of Southampton