1 Mergers and acquisitions of research-based spin-offs:

In this work we focus on merger and acquisitions (M&A) of young entrepreneurial high tech firms that originated from public research organizations. Research-based spin-offs play a key role in transforming scientific knowledge into new knowledge that is embodied in new technologies, prod-ucts, services and processes, and thus they are considered important engine for innovation and eco-nomic growth. However, despite the fact that they have an intensive innovative activity, they en-counter difficulties in commercially exploit their knowledge and in growing. M&As may affect the successful exploitation of RBSO knowledge and thus it is interesting to study the impact of this kind of deals on the subsequent innovative performances. Here we draw a model of the impact of M&A on innovative activity taking into consideration some important moderating factors like the post-deal integration and the incentive structure. We highlight the importance of these factors using five case studies of M&A of RBSOs across Europe.