Key Findings

The 2025 study confirms wide discrepancies in the startup-generating efficiency of European universities. While some institutions create as many as 80 startups per €100 million in annual budget, others manage only one. If all 905 universities operated at the benchmark efficiency of top-performing institutions, Europe could create 327,030 additional startups in the next ten years. This could unlock:

- 13.1 million additional jobs

- €880 billion in additional tax revenue

- €5.5 trillion in added GDP

- €6.9 trillion in additional equity value

These figures are based on a rigorous benchmarking model using two separate peer groups: 93 business schools and 812 non-business universities (including general, applied sciences, medical, and research institutions).

University Index & Ranking

Unlike last year, this edition does not rank universities in a single list. Instead, institutions are organized into 8 clusters to enable fairer comparisons across different types and sizes of institutions. These include general universities (by size), business schools, universities of applied sciences, medical universities, and research institutes.

Business schools remain the most efficient, generating an average of 25 startups per €100 million in budget. Non-business institutions, regardless of size or specialization, generally range between 5 and 6 startups per €100 million, with smaller institutions slightly outperforming larger ones. Research institutes are the least efficient, averaging just one startup per €100 million.

Notably, 75% of universities included in both the 2024 and 2025 editions improved their performance, suggesting growing attention to entrepreneurship and institutional learning across Europe.

Country and City Index & Ranking

The study also evaluates regional performance. The United Kingdom leads with 9.2 startups per €100 million, followed by the EU/EEA average at 8.2, and Switzerland at 6.3. Among countries with at least 20 universities in the dataset, France stands out as the most efficient, with 16 startups per €100 million.

Among cities, Lille ranks highest in efficiency, with nearly 30 startups per €100 million of university budget. Paris has the largest combined university budget in Europe at €13.1 billion. In contrast, Bonn ranks lowest, producing fewer than one startup per €100 million.

Recommendations for Policy Makers and Universities

To unlock the full economic potential of universities, the study reinforces last year’s central recommendation: establish entrepreneurship as the third institutional pillar, alongside research and teaching.

The report emphasizes that many effective measures (already adopted by leading institutions) can be implemented with minimal financial investment. These include embedding entrepreneurship in all disciplines, activating alumni networks, fostering interdisciplinary programs, and supporting local startup ecosystems. The study also notes the importance of linking societal investment in higher education (nearly €250 billion annually) to measurable societal and economic returns.

The Study

This year’s analysis includes data from 905 universities and research institutions, covering nearly €250 billion in annual budgets and over 14,000 startups linked to alumni founders or direct university spinouts. Institutions were benchmarked against the average performance of the top 20 business schools and top 100 non-business universities to determine their relative efficiency and calculate potential gains.

With significantly expanded scope, refined clustering, and an evidence-based methodology, the 2025 edition of the Redstone University Startup Index offers the most comprehensive picture yet of how European universities can shape the continent’s future through entrepreneurship.

‍

Picture: allsides.tech