Políticas universitárias de apoio a spin-offs: estudo comparativo de duas universidades portuguesas

Mestrado em Economia e Gestão de Ciência e Tecnologia e InovaçãoSpin-off creation became a popular mechanism of academic knowledge transfer in recent years. Considering this, in parallel with public and private incentives, universities began adopting internal knowledge transfer and spin-off support policies, but their characteristics and results are not well known, especially in the Portuguese case. Based on international evidence, we clarified the potential influence of university policies in the creation and initial development of spin-off companies and, based on this, we examined the intervention of two Portuguese universities in these processes. In general, both universities have structured knowledge transfer policies in recent years, although with different characteristics and forms of intervention. This action was accompanied by a growing utilization of university services and supports by spin-off firms. Nonetheless, despite the significant amount of resources universities have allocated to this domain, quite seldom there's a perfect match between the perceived needs of support to entrepreneurs and the support actually provided by the universities. Likewise, the research developed suggests some drawbacks in what concerns the dissemination of the university support services and actions within their target users. Last, but not the least, it seems that clearer university policies, a larger offer of support services and a good adaptation to regional context are associated to a more favourable environment to spin-off formation.Spin-off creation became a popular mechanism of academic knowledge transfer in recent years. Considering this, in parallel with public and private incentives, universities began adopting internal knowledge transfer and spin-off support policies, but their characteristics and results are not well known, especially in the Portuguese case. Based on international evidence, we clarified the potential influence of university policies in the creation and initial development of spin-off companies and, based on this, we examined the intervention of two Portuguese universities in these processes. In general, both universities have structured knowledge transfer policies in recent years, although with different characteristics and forms of intervention. This action was accompanied by a growing utilization of university services and supports by spin-off firms. Nonetheless, despite the significant amount of resources universities have allocated to this domain, quite seldom there's a perfect match between the perceived needs of support to entrepreneurs and the support actually provided by the universities. Likewise, the research developed suggests some drawbacks in what concerns the dissemination of the university support services and actions within their target users. Last, but not the least, it seems that clearer university policies, a larger offer of support services and a good adaptation to regional context are associated to a more favourable environment to spin-off formation