International knowledge gaining: Challenges and barriers among university spin-off firms

Industrial competence is increasingly dispersed across the globe, urging young high-technology firms to build knowledge relationships across national and continental boundaries. However, building such relationships is hampered by numerous barriers following from short in experience and education of founders of these firms. In this paper, we examine the role of absorptive capacity of a specific category of firms, university spin-offs, in building knowledge networks, specially the spatial reach involved. In a sample of 105 spin-offs, in the Netherlands and Norway, we find that around 60 per cent of the firms employ knowledge relationships abroad, almost 35 per cent of them outside of Europe. The main underlying absorptive capacity factors are a high education level (PhD), participation in market/business-related training, and low newness of realized innovations, the last indicating support from an established market position in knowledge networking with a larger reach. A final result is that international knowledge networks associates with higher levels of firm growth regarding employment.Values Technology and InnovationTechnology, Policy and Managemen