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4GU Products and Services deliver critical insights through tailored analytics focused on regional innovation, entrepreneurship and societal impact so university leaders can confidently orchestrate and advance their regional ecosystem, drive regional strategy and achieve place-based impact.
Universities harness 4GU Products and Services to access strategic insights, tools and export support to understand and advance their regional ecosystem, refine strategy and demonstrate societal impact. Understand and measure the effectiveness of:
Innovation pathways — from foundational research and intellectual property created
Commercializing research and entrepreneurship — alumni founded startups and university spin-outs
Regional collaboration networks — knowledge exchange/transfer through partnerships across industry, government and civil society
Education pathways — building future-ready graduates and local talent
Community engagement and cultural programs – creating and engaged culture and structures conducive to translation and societal impact
Gain the clarity needed to guide regional strategy and serve as an anchor for orchestrating and driving innovation and societal impact locally and beyond.
4GU Products and Services help university leaders answer critical questions such as:
What is the university’s contribution to regional economic development through start-ups and spinouts?
To what extent are our regionally co-authored papers being cited in policy documents and so influencing public policy?
How much jointly developed IP do we produce and how much is our research being utilized in innovation pathways?
What is the volume, academic impact, field specialization and ecosystem alignment of our research activities?
Is our organization embedded effectively into our regional ecosystem?
Are our people engaged with partners across sectors to support capability building and societal impact?
Universities use the 4GU Tool to gain data-driven insights to inform and orchestrate stronger regional innovation strategies and communicate their societal value with confidence — both locally and beyond. The 4GU Tool offers a comprehensive view into innovation pathways, entrepreneurship, student success, societal impact, and academic excellence.
A ‘health review style’ report evaluating university performance across specific 4GU aligned indicators and providing basic recommendations to help improve performance and assess alignment with the 4th Generation University concept and framework.
Based on the insights gained from the report, a university who is also a community member can decide to submit an alignment application to assess their current position on the 4GU journey and become an aligned member.
In-depth support for institutions seeking to develop 4GU capabilities and create successful regional ecosystems. Drawing on data, analytics and tools, 4GU consultancy takes a customer-led, co-development approach to support areas such as strategy evaluation, commercialization, major investment bid development and tailored workshops to drive scale and impact.
Together the 4GU Products and Services provide a comprehensive view into regional ecosystems to help embed a mission-led strategy to deliver regional impact into day-to-day operations and long-term planning and to support communication of societal value with confidence—both locally and beyond.
The 4GU Products and Services draw upon authoritative data sources, advanced data science, artificial intelligence, and expert consultancy to support regional development and ecosystem objectives.
Key capabilities include:
Coverage of institutions globally and across sectors
Access to comprehensive metrics across all dimensions of the 4th Generation University Framework (Research, Education, Governance and Value co-creation)
Data from curated sources such as Scopus, Overton, Dealroom and LexisNexis IP DataDirect
Insights tailored to your unique regional ecosystem
Insights enabled through a structured Focus Area taxonomy (15 Domains, 43 Categories, and 312 Technologies) inspired by a synthesis of global technology priority frameworks (e.g., NSF KTAs, EU KETs, UKRI priorities, and others)
Consultancy delivered by a dedicated team with significant experience in academia and focused entirely on Higher Education
Understand the Innovation Ecosystem: Systematically review their place or ecosystem to understand its strengths, weaknesses, capabilities, opportunities and how it aligns to national and international priorities.
Embed a mission-led strategy to deliver regional impact into operations and planning: Place the university as an anchor around which government, industry and civil society can organize to create meaningful partnerships that drive scale and impact.
Evaluate how institutional activities align with the 4th Generation University concept and framework.
Demonstrate Societal Value locally and beyond: Understand and communicate societal value and place-based impact with confidence through insights into innovation pathways, entrepreneurship, student success, and societal impact, alongside academic excellence.
Request a demo to see how the 4GU Analytics Tool and Alignment Report can support evidence-based decisions around regional impact and innovation.
