Abstract: Over the past few years, spin-off companies from research institutions have developed into a significant economic and innovation policy phenomenon. Along with licenses, patents, cooperative and consulting activities, academic spin-offs are considered to be an important mechanism for knowledge transfer, enabling industry to exploit the expertise and know-how gained through research. However, very little is currently known about the research and innovation activities of established spin-offs from research institutions — unlike those in the start-up phase. Data on East German companies show that even research spin-offs in the later stages of development
are more innovative than other start-ups. This is not due to their specific start-up status but to their high cooperation intensity. This observation validates the research and technology policy approach at national and regional level in Germany of promoting networks and clusters linking various economic players.
The complete publication in German by Anna Lejpras in:
DIW Wochenbericht 36/2012 (PDF, 119.61 KB)