Migration Patterns of University Spin-offs: Case Study of Region Twente, a Non-Core Region in the Netherlands

Abstract

This paper is a case study about location and migration patterns of university spin-offs. In this case study 1179 spin-offs of the University of Twente in the eastern part of The Netherlands have been identified and classified according to the definition of Pirnay et al. (2003) into four different types. These spin-offs have been longitudinally tracked throughout their existence, so that developments and migration patterns can be observed.There are interesting differences between different types of spin-offs in terms of their location: The spin-offs that received more explicit support from the university (for example in terms of coaching, providing of finance, IP protection, introduction into networks etc.) are more likely to stay in the region Twente, compared to the spinoffs of which the entrepreneur only got some implicit support (for example a general entrepreneurship course or maybe got in touch with inspiring entrepreneurs from existing spin-offs). Another issue explored in this paper is the often mentioned "brain drain" of spin-offs from non-core regions, as an analogy of brain drain of higher educated people from such regions. Even though firms in general are less mobile than people, it is indeed striking to see differences in firm growth in number of employees, among companies which migrate from economic non-core regions to core-regions. Migrating spin-offs from Twente to large agglomerations in The Netherlands grow on average three times faster than companies that stay in the region of origin. Still, knowledge intensive patent-based spin-offs tend to stay close to the parent university, likely because of knowledge spill-overs from the university. These findings can help university administrators to increase effectiveness of their entrepreneurship support systems, by investing in supporting different types of spin-offs with access to regional business networks, to help also less visible and lower tech spin-offs to root more in the region.