The Creation of Academic Spin-offs: Evidences from Italy

Nowadays, Universities are trying to achieve their third mission, i.e. to foster the economic development of a specific context/Region, through Technology Transfer (TT) activities and processes like licensing, patenting, joint venture or the creation of academic spin-offs. The present study focuses on the creation of academic spin-offs in Italy and tries to investigate whether cognitive/personal characteristics of academics, Universities' collaborations or environmental factors can affect this phenomenon. Data about the ninety-two Italian Universities were collected (from MIUR and CINECA websites) and multiple regression analyses were developed. Results show that both personal characteristics (academic status, age, gender) and cognitive factors (the amount of professors and the fields of research) positively affect the creation of academic spin-off. Results also show that the creation of academic spin-offs is positively correlated to the participation in and coordination of scientific collaborations. Environmental factors, do not present any significant relationship with the creation of academic spin-offs.