Universities contributed £3.3bn to the UK economy in the 2010-11 academic year despite widespread economic uncertainty, a report says.
And analysis by England's higher education funding body Hefce said a new company was created for every £24m in research funding.
This is less than half the £56m US price-tag for similar spin-off firms.
The report added that the value of UK knowledge exchange was on the rise.
Analysis by Hefce suggests the total value of the services UK universities provided to the economy increased by 7% in 2010-11 from £3.1bn in 2009-10.
