Start-Ups

Different Strategies for Different TTOs

Start-ups continue to be a core focus of university technology transfer offices, but after a decade of steady growth, there are signs that investors and tech transfer offices (TTOs) may have identified and are pursuing mature strategies for creating start-ups. However, there is a bifurcation in the industry between TTOs that pursue startup creation and those that do not. TTOs at the respondents that lead in startup creation have expanded their production while about 17% of respondents continue to report no startups created.

Key Findings

• In 2019, 1,040 start-ups based upon foundational university intellectual property were formed. This sum is largely driven by a slight decline in response rate to the survey.
• At the end of the year, 6,725 start-ups were still operational, an uptick of nearly 33% since 2015.
• Of these start-ups, 73% were incorporated within the institution’s home state.
• Respondents may be pursuing higher quality start-ups as respondents held equity in 821 start-ups.