Fifteen years of Academic Entrepreneurship in …utenportugal.org/wp-content/uploads/fini-20150218...• Unibo: – Daniela Bolzani – Riccardo Fini – Rosa Grimaldi – Gian Luca

Fifteen years of Academic Entrepreneurship in Italy: Evidence from the TASTE project

Riccardo Fini 18/2/2015

Porto Business School

Agenda

•  TASTE project: overview

•  TASTE project: results

TASTE project The Project:

- TAking STock: External engagement by academics - www2.sa.unibo.it/taste - FP7-PEOPLE-CIG MARIE CURIE (2012 – 2016) - Follow-up of Project IRIS (2005-2009) http://patiris.uibm.gov.it

Aim: -  To systematically map entrepreneurship from Italian

universities’ labs -  To provide reliable data on how science-based entrepreneurship

unfolds and generate wealth -  To better understand the determinants of high-growth

entrepreneurship

Definitions •  Academic entrepreneurship

 Creation of new a business based on university-developed knowledge

•  Academic spin-off is a firm in which: (a)  the university is a shareholder and/or (b)  (at least) one of the founder is an academic (i.e., faculty

member, researcher or PhD student)

In Italy formally regulated by Law 297/1999

(Shane, 2004; Grimaldi et al., 2011; Fini et al., 2014)

Approach •  Multilevel- population-based approach:

–  Population of (Italian): •  Universities (95)

•  Academics (≈ 50,000)

•  Spin-offs (≈ 1,100)

•  Patents (≈ 1,000)

•  University Students and Alumni (≈ 2,000,000)

–  Time-span: 2000 – 2012

•  Data sources (primary and secondary): –  Cineca, MiurNuclei, Infocamere Telemaco, Eurostat, EPO,

Patiris, Ape-inv Lissoni, Abilitazioni MIUR, Linked-in –  Survey to: research offices, TTOs, spin-offs, entrepreneurs and

students

Data structure •  Relational database

•  5 Domains 1.  Institutional (i.e., “Universita’) 2.  Contextual (i.e., “Contesto”) 3.  Firm (i.e., “Impresa”) 4.  Individual (i.e., “Individuo”) 5.  Knowledge (i.e., “Brevetti-Pubblicazioni”)

•  200 tables – 3000 variables

Individual Level (ID: 4)

Firm level (ID: 3)

Contextual level (ID: 2)

Knowledge level

(ID: 5)

Institutional level

(ID: 1)

Relationship diagram

Multilevel in nature

Institutional level (ID: 1)"

© Imperial College Business School

Institutional level

Data on: 94 MIUR Universities

4 Public Research Centers

Time-variant data: 1999-2011

Information on: - Employees (academics and

technicians) - Departments and faculties (e.g., research performance, number of

students) -  Support mechanisms and policies (e.g., incubators and patent policy)

- 23 tables

Contextual level (ID: 2)"


Contextual level

Data on: 20 Italian Regions

Time variant data: 1999-2011

Information on: -Regional munificence

-Social capital -Credit availability

-Infrastructural support

10 tables

Firm level (ID: 3) "


Firm level

Data on: 540 Academic Spin-offs (spun-off from the Italian Universities and Public

Research Centers)

60 Private Firms (control sample)


Information on: -Firm performance and

operations -Founders and top management teams

46 Tables

Individual Level (ID: 4)"


Individual level

Data on: a) Firms people:

-2800 founders and 480 managers


Information on: -Career

b) Population of Italian academics: -60000 academics

Cross sectional data: 2008

Information on: Demographics

15 tables

Knowledge level (ID: 5)


Knowledge level

Data on: Patenting activity by

Italian academics


Information on: -Technology

-Patents and patent families

22 tables

Research team •  Unibo:

–  Daniela Bolzani –  Riccardo Fini –  Rosa Grimaldi –  Gian Luca Marzocchi –  Maurizio Sobrero

•  Externals: –  Tim Folta (Uconn) –  Enrico Forti (UCL) –  Antonio Giuliani (UIC) –  Einar Rasmussen (Bodo) –  Simone Santoni (Ucass) –  Mike Wright (ICL)

Outcomes Scientific Papers

- Fini, Grimaldi, Sobrero, 2009. Factors fostering academics to start up new ventures: An assessment of Italian founders' incentives, Journal of Technology Transfer

- Fini, Grimaldi, Santoni, Sobrero, 2011. Complements or substitutes? the role of universities and local context in supporting the creation of academic spin-offs, Research Policy

-  Fini, Grimaldi, Marzocchi, Sobrero. 2012. The Determinants of Corporate Entrepreneurial Intention Within Small and Newly Established Firms, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice

-  Baldini, Fini, Grimaldi, Sobrero, 2014. Organisational Change and the Institutionalisation of University Patenting Activity in Italy, Minerva

-  Bolzani D., Fini R., Grimaldi R., Sobrero M., 2014. University Spin-Offs and their impact: Longitudinal evidence from Italy, Journal of Industrial and Business Economics,

-  Fini, Toschi, 2015. Academic Logic and Corporate Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Study of the Interaction between Cognitive and Institutional Factors in New Firms, International Small Business Journal

Technical Report

-  Bolzani, Fini, Grimaldi, Santoni, Sobrero. 2014. Fifteen Years of Academic Entrepreneurship in Italy: Evidence from the Taste Project, Technical report

The TASTE Project: Some Evidence

Content

•  Characteristics

•  Shareholders and Equity Composition

•  Innovation and Growth Strategies

•  Performance

Year of Incorporation

21

1 3 5 5 2 8 6

11 13

33 25

31

58

87

72

86 96

89 79

107

80 78

14

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

< 19

90

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Num

ber o

f firm

s

Year

Operating companies: 863 (152 innovative

start-ups)

Source: TASTE; N = 1,010

North: 53.4%

Center: 20.9%

South: 25.7%

Academic spin-offs

North: 58.7%

Center: 22.3%

South: 19.0%

Innovative start-ups

Localization

Source: Ministero Sviluppo Economico 2014 and TASTE ; N = 1,010

University of affiliation

31

31

33

33

35

37

40

50

58

67

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Università degli Studi di PISA

Università degli Studi di TORINO

Università degli Studi di GENOVA

Università degli Studi di MILANO

Università degli Studi di UDINE

SSUP S.Anna di PISA

Politecnico di MILANO

Politecnico di TORINO

Università degli Studi di PADOVA

Università degli Studi di BOLOGNA

Number of founded firms

Top-10 “parent” Universities

Source: TASTE; N = 1,010

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

100%

1999 (72)

2000 (104)

2001 (129)

2002 (160)

2003 (214)

2004 (301)

2005 (371)

2006 (452)

2007 (544)

2008 (621)

2009 (691)

2010 (782)

2011 (837)

2012 (884)

2013 (863)

Year (number of operating firms in parentheses)

Individuals Public institutions Financial institutions Industry

Shareholding composition

Average number of shareholders at foundation: 6 Average number of shareholders in 2013: 6 Source: TASTE; N = 1,010

Equity composition

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1999 (72)

2000 (104)

2001 (129)

2002 (160)

2003 (214)

2004 (301)

2005 (371)

2006 (452)

2007 (544)

2008 (621)

2009 (691)

2010 (782)

2011 (837)

2012 (884)

2013 (863)



Average equity at foundation: € 52,000 Average equity in 2013: € 100,000 Source: TASTE; N = 1,010

Entrepreneurial teams at foundation

Gender 83% males

Career 98% have academic experience 13% have professional experience in industry 5% have founded other companies

Education 57% holds a Doctoral degree 3% holds a Master degree 40% holds a University degree

Scientific productivity 84% have at least one scientific publication 18% are inventors of a patent

Patenting activities

•  229 spin-offs (22.7%) with at least one patent assigned

Source: EPO, Espacenet and TASTE databases – N = 1,010

By University (Top-10)

23 25 26

28 30 30

32 45 46

52

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Università degli Studi di FIRENZE




Politecnico di TORINO

Università degli Studi di FERRARA

Università degli Studi di PISA


SSUP S.Anna di PISA


Number of assigned patents

Internationalization Strategy Speed -  At foundation: 14% of companies -  After 3 years since foundation: 57% of companies -  After 5 years since foundation: 74% of companies

Mode

11%

40% 36%

7% 6%

Import Export Partnership Licensing

Place

44%

18%

8%

17%

6% 7%

Europe North America Central-South America Asia Middle East Africa

Source: TASTE Survey 2013 (n = 123/354 – RR = 35%)

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

0 (122)

1 (122)

2 (124)

3 (124)

4 (123)

5 (118)

6 (112)

7 (87)

8 (68)

9 (48)

10 (33)

11 (24)

12 (17)

13 (12)

14 (1)

Aver

age

Ann

ual R

even

ue (K

/€)

Years since foundation (number of operating firms in parentheses)

1° office (abroad)

1° sale (ita) 1° employee 1° financing 1° collaboration (ita)

1° patent application 1° export 1° collaboration (abroad)

Milestones

Source: TASTE Survey 2013 (n = 123/354 – RR = 35%)

Performance: Revenues per Year

2 4 8 13 24

39

65 69

100

125

134 150 159

184

28 38

65 82

111

130

175 153

183 201 195 192

190

209

0

50

100

150

200

250

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

1999 (72)

2000 (104)

2001 (129)

2002 (160)

2003 (214)

2004 (301)

2005 (371)

2006 (452)

2007 (544)

2008 (621)

2009 (691)

2010 (837)

2011 (884)

2012 (863)

Aver

age

annu

al re

venu

e (K

/€)

Tota

l rev

enue

s (M

/€)

Revenues per year (number of operating firms in paretheses) Total revenues (M/Euro) Average revenue per company (K/Euro)

Source: AIDA and TASTE; N = 1,100

23.8

75.6

92.3 105.3

116.5 118.8

104.6 94.1

87.7

72.6

47.4 36.5 31.6

7.3

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

1 (801)

2 (744)

3 (663)

4 (562)

5 (486)

6 (412)

7 (321)

8 (262)

9 (186)

10 (113)

11 (66)

12 (50)

13 (28)

14 (4)

Ann

ual r

even

ues

sinc

e es

tabl

ishm

ent

(K/€

)

Ann

ual r

even

ues

sinc

e es

tabl

ishm

ent

(M/€

)

Years since establishment (number of operating firms in parentheses)

Annual revenues since establishment (M/Euro) Annual average revenues - all firms Average annual revenues - lowest quartile (K/€) Average annual revenues - median quartile (K/€) Average annual revenues - highest quartile (K/€)

Performance: Revenues since Establishment

Source: AIDA and TASTE; N = 1,100

Performance: survivals/failures

Failures = 124 (12.3%) M&As = 12 (1.2%) Transformations = 11 (1.1%)

Survivals = 863 (85.4%)

Inactive in the last 3 years = 35 (4%)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120 <

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Num

ber o

f firm

s

Year N. founded and survived N. founded and closed Failures per year

To summarize Characteristics •  1,010 spin-off (1978-2013); 935 after Law 297/1999 •  7 years old on average •  53% established in the North of Italy •  79% operating in services

Shareholders and Equity Composition •  Equity

-  at foundation: € 52,000 -  in 2013: € 100,000

•  Decreasing role of industrial, financial and public partners

Innovation and Internationalization Strategies •  25% with at least one patent-assigned •  57% of firms work abroad after 3 years since establishment

Performance •  12.3% of spin-offs failed; 1.2% merged/acquired; 1.1% transformed; •  Growing total revenues (2013: 184 M/€) and •  Growing average revenues (2013: 200 K/€ per company) + crisis 2008 •  Growing revenues up to 6 years since inception – but different groups of firms

Conclusions Weaknesses •  2 out of 10,000 registered companies are academic spin-offs •  Limited capitalization and turnover •  Decreasing relative capitalization by financial, public and

industrial shareholders •  Very few M&A / IPOs

Opportunities •  Relatively low failure rates •  High levels of human capital, presence of patent-related

knowledge, international proactiveness •  Fast growing firms – early stage milestones

What’s next Research pipeline •  Fini, Folta, Grimaldi, 2014, Creating the Context for Entrepreneurship:

Organizational Subunits as Determinants of New Venture Creation

•  Santoni, Fini, Grimaldi, Wright, 2014, How Does Team Diversity Evolve? Exploring Adaptation and Perpetuation Perspectives in Entrepreneurial Team Change

International collaborations •  TRIC project (ICL) – PI: Markus Perkmann

•  Norwegian Spin-off Project (Bodo) – PI: Einar Rasmussen

Grants and Financing •  Horizon 2020

•  ERC

Riccardo Fini [email protected]

www.unibo.it/faculty/riccardo.fini

TASTE DB - Entry

TASTE DB - Revenues

TASTE DB - Revenues

As of 31/12/2012: - 1100 Entry, of which: - 610 with revenues >>0 - 213 failures - 277 with revenues (still) ≈ 0

Manufacturing 18%

Commerce 1%

Tourism 2% Information and

communication 22%

Professional scientific and

technical activities

55%

Other 2%

Services 79%

Sector of activity

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

1999 (72)

2000 (104)

2001 (129)

2002 (160)

2003 (214)

2004 (301)

2005 (371)

2006 (452)

2007 (544)

2008 (621)

2009 (691)

2010 (782)

2011 (837)

2012 (884)

2013 (863)

Num

ber o

f sha

reho

lder

s



Shareholders: total shareholders, by year

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

1999 (72)

2000 (104)

2001 (129)

2002 (160)

2003 (214)

2004 (301)

2005 (371)

2006 (452)

2007 (544)

2008 (621)

2009 (691)

2010 (782)

2011 (837)

2012 (884)

2013 (863)

Num

ber o

f ind

ivid

uals


Academic entrepreneurs Non-academic entrepreneurs

Shareholders: total individual shareholders, by year

0

5

10

15

20

25

30 19

99

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Num

ber o

f par

tner

s

Venture Capitalist Bank Financial bodies

Shareholders: total financial shareholders, by year

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Num

ber o

f par

tner

s

Incubator Science/Tech Park Public Body Research Body University Public Research Centers

Shareholders: total public shareholders, by year

Shareholders: total industrial shareholders, by year

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700 19

99

(72)

2000

(104

)

2001

(129

)

2002

(160

)

2003

(214

)

2004

(301

)

2005

(371

)

2006

(452

)

2007

(544

)

2008

(621

)

2009

(691

)

2010

(782

)

2011

(837

)

2012

(884

)

2013

(863

)

Equity: total equity, by year

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1999 (72)

2000 (104)

2001 (129)

2002 (160)

2003 (214)

2004 (301)

2005 (371)

2006 (452)

2007 (544)

2008 (621)

2009 (691)

2010 (782)

2011 (837)

2012 (884)

2013 (863)

Equi

ty c

apita

l (M

/€)



Equity: equity from individual shareholders, by year

-

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

-

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

1999 (72)

2000 (104)

2001 (129)

2002 (160)

2003 (214)

2004 (301)

2005 (371)

2006 (452)

2007 (544)

2008 (621)

2009 (691)

2010 (782)

2011 (837)

2012 (884)

2013 (863)

Equi

ty p

er in

divi

dual

(K/€

)

Tota

l equ

ity v

alue

(M/€

)


Equity value academic entrepreneurs (M/€) Equity value non-academic academic entrepreneurs (M/€) Average per academic entrepreneur (K/€) Average per non-academic entrepreneur (K/€)

Equity: equity from financial shareholders, by year

-

2

4

6

8

10

12

1999

(7

2)

2000

(104

)

2001

(129

)

2002

(160

)

2003

(214

)

2004

(301

)

2005

(371

)

2006

(452

)

2007

(544

)

2008

(621

)

2009

(691

)

2010

(782

)

2011

(837

)

2012

(884

)

2013

(863

)

Equi

ty v

alue

(M/€

)

Bank Venture Capitalist Financial bodies Average per bank (K/€) Average per Venture Capitalist (K/€) Average per financial body (K/€)

Innovation and growth strategies: patenting - entrepreneurs

8

10

11

11

14

15

15

18

18

19

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Università degli Studi di ROMA "La Sapienza"

Università degli Studi di FERRARA

Università degli Studi di TORINO

Università degli Studi di UDINE





SSUP S.Anna di PISA


282 spin-offs (27.9%) with a patent inventor among the entrepreneurs

Source: PATIRIS and TASTE; N = 1,100

Top-10 Universities of affiliation

Innovation and growth strategies: patenting - firms

Firms assignees of 79 EPO patents

Source: PATIRIS and TASTE; N = 1,100

Top-10 Universities of affiliation

3 3 3 3

4 5

6 6 6

12

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Università degli Studi di MODENA e REGGIO EMILIA

Università degli Studi di PAVIA Politecnico di MILANO SSUP S.Anna di PISA

Università degli Studi di BOLOGNA Università degli Studi di PISA

Politecnico di BARI Università degli Studi di FIRENZE Università degli Studi di GENOVA Università degli Studi di MILANO

Number of assigned EPO patents

Innovation and growth strategies: University-company collaborations

41%

46%

13%

None collaboration Collaboration with Universities Collaboration with Universities & PRCs

35%

7% 47%

2% 9%

Research Consultancy Training Creation of infrastructures Participation to grant calls

Source: TASTE survey 2013 (n = 123)

Frameworks Organizational theories

- Institutional theory/logics (Greenwood et al., 2008)

- Organizational design (Sorensen & Fasiotto, 2011)

Psychosocial theories

- Theory of the planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991)

- Construal level theory (Liberman & Trope, 1998)

- Opportunity recognition/creation (Alvarez & Barney, 2013)

- Team diversity and evolution (Harrison & Klein, 2008)

Technology management, entrepreneurship and policy making

- a la Shane, Siegel, Martin, Link, Kenney, Feldman, Salter, Rasmussen, Delmar, Wiklund, Wright, Clarysse, Mustar, D’Este, Autio.

Projects Project Iris:

- Italian Research on Innovation Systems - http://patiris.uibm.gov.it/home (Patiris) - FIRB Financing - 2005 – 2009 - PI: Maurizio Sobrero

Project Taste: - TAking STock: External engagement by academics - www2.sa.unibo.it/taste - FP7-PEOPLE-CIG MARIE CURIE Financing - 2012 – 2016 - PI: Riccardo Fini

Focus •  Focus on:

–  Commercialization activities by academics •  spin-off, patenting, external collaborations

–  University and local context support mechanisms: •  policies, TTOs, incubators

–  Researchers’ careers and scientific productivity

–  Student entrepreneurship

Documents

Fifteen years of Academic Entrepreneurship in …utenportugal.org/wp-content/uploads/fini-20150218...• Unibo: – Daniela Bolzani – Riccardo Fini – Rosa Grimaldi – Gian Luca