King's College London has again ranked among the top English universities in this year's Knowledge Exchange Framework results.
Participants at the 2026 King's MedTech Accelerator that provides support for researchers and staff from King's Health Partners and ventures to focus on transforming research innovations into viable healthcare ventures.
King's strength in knowledge exchange (KE) and commitment to creating meaningful impact through research has been recognised in this year's Knowledge Exchange Framework results.
The Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) is an annual assessment of English higher education institutions by Research England, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It measures how universities mutually share knowledge with different types of partners in order to benefit the economy and society beyond academia.
King's latest results reflect the ambitions of King's Strategy 2030 to build a coherent and connected innovation ecosystem across the university. This includes strengthening the pathway from research and ideas through to translation, commercialisation, venture creation and wider societal impact, while deepening partnerships with industry, communities and the public sector.
By assessing the knowledge exchange activities of institutions, the KEF aims to help universities understand and improve their performance, support the effective use of public funding for knowledge exchange, and allow comparisons between institutions with similar capabilities and resources.
Under the framework, higher education institutions in England are grouped in 'clusters'. King's belongs to Cluster V, which is defined as: "very large, very high research intensive and broad-discipline universities undertaking significant amounts of excellent research." Cluster V encompasses 18 institutions in total, including Imperial, UCL, Edinburgh, Manchester, Oxford, and Cambridge.
The KEF results provide an overview of the performance of higher education providers across seven broad areas of knowledge exchange activity known in the framework as 'perspectives',. In the new results, King's has improved in two perspectives: Local Growth and Regeneration (perspective 2) and Continuing Professional Development and Graduate Start-ups (perspective 3). King's now ranks at or above the cluster average in five of the seven perspectives and has scored in the top quintile for two perspectives: Research Partnerships, and IP and Commercialisation.
King's Commitment to Innovation and Knowledge Exchange
King's has a strong ambition to foster innovation and entrepreneurship across the university and we continue to invest in programmes that ensure research makes a positive and lasting difference in the world. This year we launched a new Knowledge Exchange strategy, rooted in our commitment to serving society through academic excellence. Our commitment to KE was also recognised nationally as we became signatories to the Knowledge Exchange Concordat.
Initiatives such as the Sanctuary Programme and Help to Grow, as well as work led by King's Policy Institute have helped increase King's Local Growth & Regeneration score, reflecting the University's commitment to demonstrating how King's supports local communities and driving inclusive growth. This work also directly benefits policy making, such as the Policy Institute's work on homelessness prevention, employment, community safety and evidence-informed local decision-making.
Further, King's commitment to driving economic growth through the translation and commercialisation of research remains strong, with increased support for the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering and Startup, Spinout, and MedTech Accelerators, as well as King's Venture Builder which supports companies to scale. King's Entrepreneurship Institute is key to our success in this area and supports entrepreneurial thinking, skills and action among King's students, staff and alumni. New initiatives such as the £500k Innovation Development Award and the social sciences, humanities and arts (SHAPE) focused SPARK innovation fund align with our recent commitment to a more founder friendly approach to spin-out formation including 100% ownership for social ventures.
King's is proud to have a long-serving commitment to Innovation and Knowledge Exchange, and we are making strategic developments in this area to further support our commercialisation, innovation and transformation activity. This is an exciting time for King's Innovation as we update our Innovation Strategy to maximise our future success. I am pleased that the improvement in our Local Growth and Regeneration score highlights our commitment to working within our local area to strengthen community partnership and foster inclusive economic development.
Professor Sir Bashir M. Al-Hashimi, Senior Vice-President (Research & Special Initiatives)
These results reflect King's strength in translating research into economic, societal and environmental impact. Our new founder-friendly equity framework is one example of how we are giving researchers a greater stake in the commercial success of their innovations.By combining this with targeted support for translation, commercialisation and venture creation, we can help more discoveries progress into products, services and companies that improve lives. [
Professor Sebastien Ourselin, Assistant Principal (Innovation)[
Building on the successful King's Engaged Research Awards, now in their third year, the One King's Impact showcase has launched. This showcase explores how students, staff and partners are working across disciplines, sectors and communities to address global challenges and create positive social impact.
King's continues to champion service to society, working collaboratively with partners in London, as well as nationally and internationally to address complex challenges through research, innovation and engagement. These results reflect the dedication of colleagues across the university who are turning our civic mission into tangible impact.
Professor 'Funmi Olonisakin, Vice-President (International, Engagement and Service)
