Success determinants of academic spin offs in a dual perspective of analysis: university and local context

Several studies highlight the central role played by the support mechanisms adopted by university, aimed at the development of academic spin-offs (ASOs). In addition, other scholars emphasize also the extent and the entrepreneurial as well as the infrastructural support of the local context of ASOs have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the spin-out processes. The paper aims to investigate, on a regional level, the success factors of ASOs – both in terms of financial performance and quantity - from a dual, joint perspective: the university context and the local context. Using a sample of 405 ASOs extracted from Netval database in 2013 and analysing 18 Italian administrative regions, we showed how the two entities observed have a joint effective impact on fostering ASOs success only in terms of companies generated, while their financial performance seems to be only marginally influenced by the mechanisms facilitating entrepreneurship, both within university and local context. This is likely due to the issues related to the high-tech start-up nature of ASOs and to the policies beyond their creation and development.