نوع شناسی مبتنی بر دانش اسپین آف های دانشگاه در زمینه توسعه اقتصادی منطقه ای

Drawing on the literature pertaining to the role universities play in promoting technology transfer, this paper develops an insightful conceptualization of spin-off processes, and applies it to a current regional case study. The suggested typology of university spin-off/start-up firms is based on several variables, including the type of university sponsorship, university involvement in firm formation, the character of knowledge applied, and co-localization of the founders. The empirical case study is used to demonstrate the usefulness of this approach in analyzing spin-off firms, and their dynamics. The study is based on interviews conducted with university spin-offs/start-ups in the information technology (IT) sector located in the Kitchener and Guelph metropolitan areas. This region, which is home to the University of Waterloo – one of Canada’s premier science and technology universities – has experienced an impetus of spin-off processes originating from university research dating back to the 1970s.

In the social science literature, the advantages knowledge-based, technology-intensive firms can accrue from being in close proximity to a university have been widely recognized (Nelson, 1959 and Arrow, 1962). It is believed that high-tech ventures derive significant benefits from localized knowledge spillovers emanating from the two common tasks performed by universities; i.e., basic research and human capital creation (Audretsch and Lehmann, 2005). While these knowledge inputs are appealing to firms, access to these inputs appears to depend on the spatial proximity to a particular university (Fujita and Thisse, 1996 and Fischer and Varga, 2003). It was not until the late 1960s, when new information technology (IT) industries emerged, that scholars began to scrutinize the technology transfer mechanisms that led to the direct commercialization of university research through firm formation (Landström, 2005).

This study set out with the goal of responding to the need to develop a wider practical typology of university spin-offs/start-ups that first emphasizes the role of knowledge linkages, second provides a regional analysis, and third adopts a dynamic perspective. The proposed taxonomy of university spin-off/start-up firms, which was subsequently tested in our regional case study, is effective in scrutinizing the different roles a local university plays in supporting firm formation processes of various types of new ventures, and how they progress over time. It allows us to evaluate the wider regional impact of university-related start-up and spin-off phenomena by, for instance, developing scenarios regarding the growth potential of these firms. The case study conducted has been quite informative for two reasons: On the one hand, it has illustrated the usefulness of our typology and demonstrated how it can be fruitfully applied in a regional context. On the other hand, this case has enabled us to investigate the role of university spin-offs/start-ups in regional growth and modernization processes, and to some degree ‘de-mystify’ the role the University of Waterloo has played in the Kitchener and Guelph metropolitan areas.