Luke Johnson's column last week ("As Stanford invents the future, our dreaming spires still slumber") reinforces an outdated myth that UK innovation is behind the international curve. In fact, Britain produces more spinouts, disclosures of discoveries, patents and licences than America when adjusting for economic size. Universities are central to this culture of innovation. Our universities are driving discoveries and commercial opportunities in quantum computing, gene sequencing, artificial intelligence, cancer therapies and other fields. As Mr Johnson, chairman of the Institute of Cancer Research, knows, there's a lot more to UK innovation than Oxford and Cambridge.