Do spin-off companies make academics' heads spin? The impacts of research-based spin-off companies on the production of scientific knowledge

Public research organisations nowadays are very much involved in the commercialisation of their research results, especially by creating spin-off companies. Government generally views research commercialisation as an important driver of innovation and as an opportunity to supplement increasingly strained budgets of public research organisations. Others, though, are worried that engaging in commercialisation activities and collaboration with industry will be detrimental to the autonomy and quality of academic research. This study investigates what happens when researchers create spin-off companies and collaborate with them. The case studies presented here show that collaborations between researchers and their spin-off companies vary widely and can have substantial impacts on academic research. In addition, researchers make clever use of their spin-off companies in their quest for prestige and government research funding.