Doubts remain over the true impact of university spin-offs (USOs), particularly those created outside elite research universities. This paper examines the financial performance of USOs from a single UK post-industrial region, the West Midlands within the framework of signalling theory. It adds to the existing literature on USO performance at company level, a currently under-represented topic, despite the attention and funding devoted to USOs by UK policymakers. By considering a single region, it brings new insight into the regional context of USOs. Key results of the study are a correlation between research strength of a university and ability of its USOs to attract external finance, but a lack of successful exits across the whole region.

对于大学附属公司（USOs）的真正影响仍存有疑问，特别是在精英研究型大学之外创建的附属公司。本文在信号理论的框架内研究了来自单一英国后工业区（西米德兰兹）的USO的财务绩效。尽管有英国决策者对USO的关注和资金投入，但它增加了有关公司层面USO绩效的现有文献，这是一个代表性不足的话题。通过考虑单个区域，它为USO的区域环境带来了新的见解。该研究的主要结果是大学的研究实力与其大学运营机构吸引外部资金的能力之间的相关性，但整个地区缺乏成功退出的机会。