Jürgen Egeln

Location Decisions of Spin-offs from Public Research Institutions

Researchers who start their own businesses are expected to locate close to the parent organisation (i.e. universities, public research labs) in order to benefit from spillovers, thus transferring localised knowledge into the regional economy. However, empirical evidence on location patterns of public research spin-offs is rather limited and usually restricted to case studies for certain universities and regions. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the spatial distribution of new firm formations by researchers from universities and public research organisations, based on a representative data set for Germany. It shows that location patterns of public research spin-offs do not differ from other new firm formations. Proximity to the parent institution is of little significance for location decisions, whereas spin-offs are attracted by locations with a high number of potential customers and a large supply of highly qualified labour. Public research spin-offs rather contribute to an interregional than to an intraregional knowledge transfer.

Firm Foundations and the Role of Financial Constraints

Improving the economic conditions for small and medium sized firms as well as start-ups is high on the agenda of policy makers. In this paper we discuss some policy options for fostering the creation of new enterprises. The discussion focuses on measures which aim at helping start-ups to overcome liquidity constraints. In order to provide the background for this discussion the paper provides some new empirical results on the determinants of firm foundations as well as some stylised facts on the occurence of liquidity constraints in West-Germany. We analyse the regional distribution of start-up intensity and offer several hypotheses to explain this distribution. To a large extent, the regional distribution of start-ups can be explained by the existing industry structure, regional human capital as well as the regional public traffic infrastructure. Moreover, we show that liquidity constraints occur more often in small and young firms.

Performance von akademischen Spinoff-Gründungen in Österreich

ZusammenfassungVergleicht man akademische Spinoff-Gründungen mit anderen forschungs- und wissensintensiven Gründungen, zeigt sich, dass Spinoff-Gründungen signifikant forschungs- und wissenschaftsorientierter sind. Dies drückt sich in höherer Forschungsintensität, höherer Patentierneigung und intensiveren Kontakten zur Wissenschaft aus. Spinoff-Gründungen besetzen ein besonders forschungsintensives Segment innerhalb der forschungs- und wissensintensiven Branchen und stellen eine Verbindung zwischen Wissenschaft und Markt her. In diesemPapier wird für Österreich untersucht, ob sich die Performance von Spinoff-Gründungen von der anderer Gründungen in den forschungs- und wissensintensiven Wirtschaftszweigen unterscheidet. Ökonometrische Modellrechnungen zeigen, dass Spinoff-Gründungen hinsichtlich Umsatz- und Beschäftigungswachstum nicht erfolgreicher sind als andere Gründungen in den forschungs- und wissensintensiven Branchen. AbstractWhen academic spin-offs are compared with other research- and knowledge-intensive start-ups, it is apparent that spin-offs are significantly more research- and knowledge-oriented than other start-ups. This fact becomes evident in higher research intensity, higher inclination to patenting and more intensive contacts to science. Spin-offs fill a particularly research-intensive segment within the research- and knowledge-intensive sectors and establish a connection between science and market. In this paper, for Austria, it is investigated if the performance of spin-offs differs form that of other research- and knowledge-intensive start-ups. Econometric model calculations show that spin-offs are as for turnover and employment growth not more successful than other start-ups in the research- and knowledge-intensive sector.

Are Research Spin-offs a Local Phenomenon? Empirical Findings from Germany

New business ventures stemming from universities or public research organizations have attracted increasing amounts of interest in innovation policy over the last years. Significant contributions to knowledge and technology transfer are expected from such public research spin-offs. They are regarded as hubs that transfer research results into new products, new processes or new services (OECD 2001; Callan 2001). Regions that are sites for public research facilities are hoping that spin-offs will strengthen the local economy and increase innovation activities in the region. Spin-offs that stay in the region may benefit from linkages to and cooperation with their incubator. At the same time, they may build up links to other regional firms and thus contribute to spillovers of new knowledge into the regional economy.