Startup Estonia commenced a study from Technopolis Group Baltics on research commercialisation in Estonia. The main aim was to understand what the state of play in research commercialisation in Estonia is, specifically how many university spin-offs are there, in which sectors they operate, what are their drivers and obstacles and which systems universities have in place to support spin-offs. During the study 64 active spin-offs were identified, 97% of those were created by two Estonian biggest universities \u2013 Tartu University and Tallinn University of Technology. In total, spin-offs constitute only 0.05% from the total number of SMEs and 6.5% from all start-ups in Estonia. The most, 33% of spin-offs operate in biotechnology, 16% in ICT and 11% in health sector \u2013 this is in well correlation with Estonian smart specialisation areas. As it comes to sales, only 30% of active spin-offs have considerable economic activity and about 70% are \u2019one-professor firms\u2019 delivering services only where there is a demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers find the most challenging sitting on three chairs at the same time \u2013 teaching, doing research and developing a company \u2013 they lack time performing on expected level, thus one day they need to choose whether to continue academic career or focus on entrepreneurship. Here the role of universities\u2019 Knowledge and Technology Transfer Offices becomes crucial \u2013 supporting researchers with relevant knowledge on Intellectual Property and offering support with sales and marketing skills. It was observed that the biggest gap in knowledge and funding of spin-offs is between Technology Readiness Levels 4-6, where prototype is ready and tested in lab, and has to be tested now in real market \u2013 getting the first paying client is the most challenging for a spin-off. The study concluded that universities has central role in research commercialisation – to bring research as quickly as possible to the market and serve society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n