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Financial performance studies of university spin-off companies (USOs) in the West Midlands

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Abstract

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.

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Notes

  1. https://autm.net/about-tech-transfer/advocacy/legislation/bayh-dole-act accessed May 7 2020.

  2. https://russellgroup.ac.uk/about/our-universities/ (accessed May 15 2020).

  3. Warwick is known to have had a trade sale and IPO accredited to two of its USOs some time after the data collection finished in this paper, although it is not known to what extent the university benefited financially (Beauhurst 2019).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge John Slater for his kind contribution to an earlier version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, CIMR, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet St, London, WC1E 7HX, UK

    Peter Jelfs

  2. Department of Management, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet St, London, WC1E 7HX, UK

    Helen Lawton Smith

  3. Oxfordshire Economic Observatory, School of Geography and the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK

    Helen Lawton Smith

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Jelfs, P., Lawton Smith, H. Financial performance studies of university spin-off companies (USOs) in the West Midlands. J Technol Transf 46, 1949–1972 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-020-09835-0

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