More spin-offs aren’t enough. The local area matters
Italia is facing a sort of innovation paradox. Its universities produce high-quality research, but the country struggles to translate this into businesses, jobs and economic growth. According to the OECD, in 2022 the Italian system accounted for 2.7 per cent of global scientific publications and 15 per cent of those within the European Union. These are significant figures, but in international comparisons Italia continues to be classified as a ‘moderate innovator’. The problem, therefore, does not seem to lie solely in how much knowledge we produce, but in what happens next – that is, when that knowledge has to leave the laboratories and enter the market (OECD, 2026).
In recent years, efforts have been made to bridge this gap. The PNRR has provided funding of over 4.5 billion euros for public-private partnership projects, as well as for research and innovation infrastructure across the country. There has been growth in industry-led PhD programmes, technology hubs, centres of expertise and support schemes for start-ups. However, the OECD still identifies significant obstacles. In the university funding system, only a very limited proportion – 1.5 per cent – is linked to the ability to commercialise knowledge; furthermore, the lack of adequate recognition and career incentives for researchers engaged in such activities continues to hinder collaboration with businesses (OECD, 2026).
The temptation would therefore be to conclude that measures are needed to provide universities with greater support in creating spin-offs. However, two recent studies on Italia suggest a very different answer.
Compagnucci, Iacobucci, Perugini and Spigarelli (2026) examine the dynamics of 945 academic spin-offs established between 2004 and 2018 at 63 Italian public universities. The analysis does not regard the creation of the business as the end point. Instead, it distinguishes between two key stages: creating a spin-off and then ensuring its sustainable growth. The analysis reveals that the factors explaining these two stages are very different. In the initial phase, what matters most is the extent to which the university is able to support entrepreneurship through its services and support structures. Key determinants include the presence of so-called technology transfer offices, the number of staff employed by these offices, the university’s scientific output and the quality of the research produced, as well as the universities’ commercial revenue. After the spin-off’s inception, the picture changes. When the spin-off needs to grow, it is the characteristics of the local context that become decisive (Compagnucci et al., 2026). In particular, whilst start-ups are still fragile, the quality of local institutions is crucial, in terms of the effectiveness of public policy, the certainty and enforcement of regulations, and the control of corruption. Subsequently, as the enterprise matures, more structural characteristics of the ecosystem take on greater importance, such as the accessibility of the local area and the availability of infrastructure, innovative capacity, as well as the quality of the local financial and banking system. In other words, a university can help researchers turn an idea into an entrepreneurial opportunity, but it cannot replace the wider context, within which reliable institutions, capital and expertise must be found.
This finding changes the way we view policies on academic entrepreneurship. A system may be particularly effective at fostering entrepreneurial initiatives but prove far less effective at enabling them to grow. The issue is therefore not merely how many start-ups universities generate, but how many subsequently manage to become viable businesses capable of sustaining themselves in the market, creating jobs and contributing to economic and social growth.
