University Spinoffs & Wealth Creation

Scott Shane's research on university spin-offs highlights their criticality to the entrepreneurship-innovation space:

Drawing from his seven years of research, Shane—who is also Case's academic director for the Center for Regional Economic Issues, a group that ignites new ideas to boost at economic development—defines the university spinoff as a company founded to exploit the intellectual property created in the academic setting.As he tracked the rise of these ventures, Shane found that university spinoffs are remarkably high-performing companies. His research shows that a spinoff from a typical university is 108 times as likely to go public as the average new company.
He also uncovered that most university inventions are embryonic stage, or what he describes as two stages before the traditional venture capital seed stage. He found that transforming the invention into a commercial new product or service takes an average of $4 million in investments—and as much as four years of additional development beyond the university findings.The spawning of these companies has impact on local and national economies, benefits to society and the university's ability to raise income and move forward its teaching and research missions...[continue reading]