The Entrepreneurial University and Spin-Out Firms in the UK: Playing the Numbers Game?

This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study into spin-out firms established during a five-year period at ten UK universities. The author suggests that merely counting the number of spin-outs formed reveals little about the overall efficiency of technology transfer efforts at universitie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Industry & higher education 2008-04, Vol.22 (2), p.81-98
Main Author: Lynskey, Michael J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Administrator Attitudes
Commercialization
Comparative analysis
Economics of education
Entrepreneurship
Foreign Countries
Growth rates
Higher education
Institutional Role
Interviews
Local economy
Performance Factors
Public Policy
Research and Development
Research Universities
Role Perception
Spinning
Technology Transfer
Transfer Policy
United Kingdom
Universities
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Summary:This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study into spin-out firms established during a five-year period at ten UK universities. The author suggests that merely counting the number of spin-outs formed reveals little about the overall efficiency of technology transfer efforts at universities. Instead, one has also to consider other aspects, such as the institutional setting from which spin-outs emerge, as well as several characteristics of the spin-outs themselves, including their origins and growth, the investments received and their continuing presence in the local economy. The paper also conveys the attitudes of directors of technology transfer offices on issues such as technology transfer policy, the management of the spin-out process, and the demand to achieve targets for spin-out numbers. The directors reveal reservations about the legitimacy and value of count data and simple comparisons between universities as a measure of commercialization efforts, and express concern about the use of targets as performance indicators.
ISSN:0950-4222
2043-6858
DOI:10.5367/000000008784139505