ARE PUBLIC FINANCING SCHEMES BENEFICIAL FOR UNIVERSITY SPIN-OFFS AND THE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OF INNOVATIONS?

Abstract

We investigate the effectiveness of public financing programmes for university spin-offs (USOs) in their seed stage. These ventures often identify groundbreaking innovations which are not commercialised due to financing problems. USOs show characteristics which expose them even more to the typical financing gap ventures face and for which public programmes aim to provide relief. We test on a sample of 127 German USOs whether these ventures’ characteristics increase the selection for public programmes and whether these positively affect the ventures’ development. The results indicate that only certain characteristics of USOs are decisive for receiving public support. However, the supported spin-offs have an increased likelihood of facing financial difficulties after the phase of support and do not have a higher investment readiness for finding an external investor.