Methods for identifying and evaluating disruptive technologies in university spinoffs

The entrepreneurs responsible for establishing university spinoffs are incessantly looking for new ways to leverage existing technology or create an entirely new product or service market. The creation of disruptive innovative solutions has assumed a key role in enhancing the role of university spinoffs in the global marketplace. This study aims to characterize and explore the phenomenon of disruptive innovation in university spinoffs and identify how university spinoffs recognize and evaluate low-end and new-market disruptive technologies. The findings reveal that university spin-offs have essentially privileged new-market disruptive technologies. Participation in trade fairs, conferences and journals have been the main methods adopted by these organizations to identify disruptive technologies, while the evaluation of the potential of these disruptive technologies is essentially based on the experience and scientific knowledge of the founders of the university spin-offs. Furthermore, the size and number of years of activity of university spinoffs are two factors that allow us to understand the greater proximity of the younger and smaller spinoffs with universities and research centers, whereas the larger organizations prioritize mainly market analysis and product research techniques.

LA ENTREPRENEURIAL UNIVERSITY: TOOLS AND MODELS FOR INTEGRATING THE THIRD MISSION IN EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

University spinoffs have remarkably strengthened the linkage between universities and industry. The number of technology patents and spinoffs coming out of university research has a significant impact on regional economic and social development. To further highlight the importance of university spinoffs, the article aims to review available literature on university spinoffs and present a comprehensive overview of what university spinoffs are, why they are important, what makes them significant, and how they are or can be created. In addition to reviewing existing models of University spinoff creation, the authors propose a new, multi-stage, holistic model. The authors explore how universities can promote new research-based businesses by suggesting that the nature of the supplied support depends on demands of spin-off companies. Adopting a demand-side perspective, the authors seek to understand the challenges faced by new technology businesses and hence identify how universities can assist their start-up and development. The paper nuances the common conception of a university as one uniform entity in relation to spin-offs, and assesses the literature including all levels within the university. The analysis of EU spin-off models, activities, methodologies and policies is based on the outcomes of the ERASMUS+ project “University-Enterprise Cooperation via Spin-Off Companies Network (UNISON)”.

Exploring the Role of University-Run Enterprises in Technology Transfer from Chinese Universities

ABSTRACTUniversities in China have increased their entrepreneurship significantly, yet a good understanding of the specific characteristics of university-based technology transfers remains missing. This study focuses on a special type of university spinoffs in China, University-Run Enterprises (UREs), and examines how URE eminence contributes to a university's technology transfer performance, using panel data covering 195 universities over the five years from 2002 to 2006. The findings reveal that URE eminence not only signifies a university's strong entrepreneurial culture, but also signals commercial values and quality of the university research. It moderates the contribution of university scientists from the supply side and that of sourcing firms from the demand side.