The present paper examines the high-tech spin-off process through which a new company is formed from a parent organization. Here we investigate spin-offs from three U.S. Federal R&D laboratories in New Mexico, and from Japanese government laboratories and universities. The spin-off process is one important means of transferring and commercializing technological innovations. Our study of seven spin-off companies leads us to suggest a more complex definition than the conventional definition, which centers on (1) the technological innovation, and (2) the entrepreneurs who found the spinoff.

-- HakonSkeide - 26 Mar 2009