YERUN welcomes the European Commission’s initiative to launch a call for evidence, gathering input for the forthcoming EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, aiming to improve conditions for innovative startups and scaleups across the Single Market. 

As pointed out by the study Spin-offs: reinforcing a vector of value creation for EU-27, universities are key drivers of economic development, knowledge dissemination, and technology transfer. They leverage their academic expertise and innovation capabilities to benefit society, emphasising their influential position at the regional level, and in overall socio-economic progress. The majority of university spin-offs launched after 2012 remain operational; this stability is unique when compared to other start-ups. 

However, universities need to be surrounded by adequate framework conditions and resources to realise their mission and full potential. As pointed out in the aforementioned study, within the EU-27, a significant concentration of spin-off activity is observed, with very few universities (10) accounting for 1/3 of all spin-offs. This represents a highly disproportionate share, especially when compared to the median rate of 0.08% spin-offs per university. 

YERUN encourages the EU and its Member States to implement targeted actions to favour the mentioned framework conditions and to foster a more robust innovation environment more conducive to spin-offs. Strengthening conditions for spin-offs will enable universities to fully leverage their academic expertise and innovation capabilities, ultimately driving substantial regional and socio-economic progress across Europe.