Welcome to the
SPIN-OFF Austria Dashboard

For many years, TU Graz has fulfilled the essential attributes of an entrepreneurial university: it plays a leading role in Austria in the competitive acquisition of third-party funding from business cooperations, as well as in its participation in COMET research centres. In teaching, basic economic competence traditionally has a high value ("brand" industrial engineer), the student teams of TU Graz (racing teams, robotics, synthetic biology ...) operate at world-class level and the demand of the economy for graduates of TU Graz is very high.

Accordingly, the commitment to entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship can be found in prominent places in the mission statement of TU Graz:

• Vision (element 6): "TU Graz educates its students to become critical-creative personalities, brings basic research into market-oriented innovation processes and thus forms fertile ground for start-ups."
• 6th guideline : "Distinct entrepreneurial thinking and start-up activities of students and staff".
• Unique selling proposition "World-class student teams".

The strategic project "Entrepreneurial University" was established at Graz University of Technology a few years ago under the leadership of the rector in order to develop new formats in entrepreneurial education and extracurricular offers, to professionally use the opportunities of new programmes (AplusB scale up, FFG Spin-Off Fellows, aws prototype funding, WTZ Süd ...), to support the expansion of infrastructure such as labs and maker spaces and to focus on the career option as a founder in external and internal communication. To learn from the best, representatives of successful science entrepreneurship were invited to workshops, including Kees Ejkel (Kennispark Twente), Hermann Hauser (I.E.C.T.), Burton Lee (Stanford Engineering), Johannes Schmadtke (RWTH Aachen Campus), Tomas Brenner (ieLab ETH Zurich) and representatives of the MakerSpace at TU Munich.

TU Wien (TUW) is the largest technical and scientific research institution in Austria and with departments, such as Research and Transfer Support and the Innovation Incubation Center (i²c), fostering the areas innovation, technology exploitation and entrepreneurship. The aim is a visible and sustainable promotion of university spin-offs along the value chain in the translation of excellent basic research through applied research to innovation as well as its anchoring in the innovation ecosystem.
The TUW Innovation Incubation Center (TUW i²c) together with the TUW Innovation Incubator (TUW i²) form the competence center for innovation education and business start-ups at TU Wien. It promotes the entrepreneurial spirit at TUW by supporting innovative, technology-oriented start-up teams from brainstorming to product development and implementation of business models through to market entry. For this purpose, programs are developed, implemented and evaluated that take into account the framework conditions of a university environment and thus create tailor-made offers, considering synergy effects with national and international funding programs. The innovation ecosystem includes, for example, the TU Wien StartAcademy, a "bootcamp" for researchers who are interested in setting up a spin-off, as well as an Extended Study Program on Innovation - an international curriculum with high quality and hands-on entrepreneurship training for students that not only encourages innovative thinking, but also provides solid education for entrepreneurial spirit.

TU Wien also cooperates with the AplusB Center INiTS, of which it is a co-founder and co-owner, together with the University of Vienna and the City of Vienna Business Agency.

Inspire. Educate. Innovate. Connect. On these four pillars, entrepreneurship and innovation at TU Wien will be expanded on in the future.

The University of Innsbruck offers its researchers and students a variety of opportunities to develop and implement their skills in the field of entrepreneurship. The offer includes own interdisciplinary lectures on entrepreneurship for Bachelor's / Master's and PhD students of the Department of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, workshops for post-docs or the start-up programme and other services with respect to entrepreneurship and innovation of the InnCubator (startup hub of the university and the Tyrolean Chamber of commerce). For selected diploma and master's students, there is also the extension programme Entrepreneurship, in which students can acquire skills and knowledge related to entrepreneurship and business start-ups to the extent of 45 ECTS. Students, researchers and employees thus have many opportunities to receive advice and training in this area.

Since its foundation in 2008, the University itself has participated in the start-ups of its scientists through the University of Innsbruck Unternehmensbeteiligungsgesellschaft mbH (Uni-Holding). Spin-offs as an option for the exploitation of scientific results have a high priority and are intensively supported. The University of Innsbruck also has 4 very experienced start-up advisors, some of whom have 16 years of start-up experience themselves in the biotech and business management sectors and have been assisting start-ups in their first steps as future entrepreneurs for more than 10 years. The support is holistic - the start-up advisors support the founders technically as if they were a team member themselves.

In order to build on its international expertise, the University is also involved in numerous international projects on the topic of entrepreneurship. The University of Innsbruck was and is a partner in the Erasmus+ projects GITA and Beyond scale, in the unfunded consortium P2I-Postdocs to Innovators with the University of Cambridge, Paris Science and Letters, Freie Uni Berlin, University of Edinburgh, Astrazeneka, BP and Schlumberger, the European Association for Technology Transfer Professionals ASTP as well as the European University Alliance AURORA.

The Start-up Strategy of the St. Pölten UAS is divided into “7 steps to start-up”:

1. Basics of Entrepreneurship & Innovation: Several courses provide basic knowledge about innovation and entrepreneurship.
2. Motivation & Ideas: To develop innovative ideas, the university cooperates with various organizations discussing different points of view on societal and economic problems.
3. Experiments & Concepts: Various commonly project-oriented courses serve as playground for students to experiment and develop ideas and concepts. Examples include the European Project Semester and interdisciplinary study programmes.
4. Discover & Encourage: St. Pölten UAS hosts several events to present ideas to colleagues, industries and a wider public, such as “Golden Wire”, or the “Projekte Vernissage”
5. Develop & Enhance: As a unique support action for students and alumni, St. Pölten UAS and accent GmbH, Lower Austria‘s founding agency, started the „Creative Pre-Incubator“ in 2014. Selected teams get individual coaching and support, advice on business plans, workshops tuned to specific needs as well as free office in a co-working space.
6. Network & Promotion: The university established contacts and collaborations with business angels, investors, start-up associations, innovation hubs and others and enables direct interactions between these stakeholders with students, alumni, and staff members.
7. Starting the Business: As St. Pölten UAS cooperates with accent within the „Creative Pre-Incubator“, it encourages teams with interesting business ideas to apply for their incubation program. The university has various possibilities to support start-ups and spin-offs.

The University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria has a pronounced transfer competence and a well-established Startup Centre which is located at all four campuses in Linz, Wels, Hagenberg and Steyr. It stands out for its range of teaching and learning methods in the field of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is pursued as a holistic approach in all service areas of the university and spaces or opportunities for creation and interaction are created. This is reflected, among other things, in the offer of several cross-curricular courses in the area of entrepreneurial education; furthermore, with the further education programme "Wannabe a Founder", an opportunity is created for alumni and students to delve deeper into the topic of entrepreneurship outside of the regular curriculum.

In general, the strategy is to provide infrastructure (co-working spaces), know-how (mentors) and networks (internal and external to the FH) free of charge for two years in order to increase the motivation to found a company and minimise the risk in the early phase. By creating co-working spaces at the Hagenberg, Steyr and Wels campuses, students are offered the opportunity to use them without having to travel long distances.

Furthermore, great importance is attached to networking with other educational institutions, which is evident, among other things, in the operation of the start-up platform "Akostart OÖ" together with the Johannes Kepler University Linz, the Linz University of Art and the tech2b incubator.

Further supportive marketing measures (online and print) for start-ups and more extensive support for business angel investments are planned for the future.

The UAS Wiener Neustadtis a hot spot in offering study-programs and extracurricular activities that have a specification in entrepreneurship/ start-ups and innovation topics, and has recently also established a large Innovation Lab that is an Open Fab Lab (to start operations in 2HY 2021).

The FHWN StartUp Center supports future entrepreneurs and founders in implementing their business ideas and inventions.
The UAS Wiener Neustadt is also committed to engage with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in teaching, research, and management across all faculties and campuses and will further intensify these efforts in the future. This is also evidenced by the recent foundation of an University Institute for Sustainability, and a central function for sustainability within FHWN.
The FHWN management is highly committed to the fields of innovation, sustainability, and entrepreneurship. The FHWN’s development strategy is stressing the commitment to embed modules on business creation to a greater extent in existing and future programs.

Furthermore, there is also a special institute and Master Program on Entrepreneurship:

The Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation focusses on topics that are closely linked to the study programs that have a specification in entrepreneurship/start-ups and innovation. It also cooperates closely with the start-up center. The aim of the institute’s research is to contribute to a better understanding of the emergence and development of new firms. This can apply to both young start-ups and established firms.

The master program Entrepreneurship & Applied Management addresses two topics to emphasise entrepreneurship and innovation for middle and small enterprises. The goal is to sustain a long-term and strong position on the market for founders, Start-Ups and well-established companies.

IST Austria has articulated its strategy towards technology transfer and entrepreneurship in 2016. This strategy is reviewed and updated on an annual basis.

In essence, the program consists of (i) awareness creation and training, (ii) clear rules and processes and (iii) specific support tailored to the needs of individual spin offs.
In addition, IST has developed two activities beyond the realm of the Institute – the venture fund IST cube and the science and tech park IST PARK.

(i) Awareness and training
Beyond regular orientation meetings with incoming classes and faculty, this includes the TWIS Talks series, the Entrepreneurship Lab and the Science Industry Talk.

(ii) Rules and Process
IST Austria has adopted a spin off policy including clear rules on licensing terms, institutional shareholding and faculty involvement. It has set up a wholly owned subsidiary, Twist, to run its tech transfer and spin off operations.

(iii) Tailor made support
(i) and (ii) are activities that should be standardized as much as possible. We recognize though that each spin off is special and requires its own tailored support. The Twist Fellowship Program is the mechanism through which the team and additional experts can provide that support.

(iv) IST cube
IST cube is a venture fund founded by IST Austria and Lansdowne Partners. IST cube is dedicated to funding and supportinh spin offs primarily from Austrian research institutions. It has raised an initial capital in excess of EUR 40mln, and is supported by the European Investment Fund. To date, IST cube has facilitated the launch and invested in eleven spin off companies.

(v) IST PARK
Recognizing that access to space and lab infrastructure is a critical component for spin offs, IST has entered into a joint venture with a real estate developer to develop IST Park, is a science and tech park adjacent to the campus of IST Austria. It provides ready to use lab space, mainly molecular biology and cell culture, access to the machine shop and open plan offices for founders and spin offs.

AIT's entrepreneurship program encompasses several aspects: Spin-offs and start-ups are considered early in the innovation cycle as a possible option to capture value. Early positioning of entrepreneurship with scientists and engineers leads to recognizing business opportunities early on. Spin-off project candidates are supported and guided by internal and external experts. Special emphasis is placed on understanding and addressing the business model, accompanied risks and market demands. Validation of market and product hypotheses play a central role.

The Spin-Off program is adapted to the specific requirements of the respective Spin-Off project. The applied methodologies, tools and procedures are continuously refined and established as best practice methods. In IPR licensing or transfer, special attention is paid to finding a good balance between safeguarding AIT's economic and legal interests and still creating start-up-friendly conditions.

In addition to a dedicated team for the development of the entrepreneurship program and the support of spin-off candidates, a mentoring and support network is established. Integrating AIT into existing start-up networks (incubators, accelerators, etc.), organizing or participating in hackathons and cooperating with industry incubators complement these activities.

The IP strategy of the Austria Academy of Sciences, which has been in effect for the entire Academy since February 2018, contains a clear commitment to the transfer of knowledge acquired at the Academy into the economy. With the IP Strategy, the Academy fulfills an essential task in the continuous innovation process in line with the Austrian federal government's intellectual property strategy adopted in February 2017 by increasingly promoting the commercial use of research results. At the same time, with its IP strategy, the Academy is following a recommendation of the European Commission from April 2008 on the handling of intellectual property in knowledge transfer activities for public research institutions and is thus making itself fit for future research and innovation programmes such as the EU's Horizon Europe programme.

Five strategic goals shape the IP strategy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences:

1. Ensuring compliance and the adherence of the Academy´s legal and contractual requirements forms the essential basis of knowledge and technology transfer at the Academy.
2. Researchers should be given the best possible support in knowledge and technology transfer, i. a. by providing sufficient IP-related training opportunities and centrally coordinating cooperation between the Academy and other institutions or companies at the administrative level.
3. The establishment of IP rights, especially patents, forms the basis for successful commercial exploitation of inventions made at the Academy. Patents can be incorporated into spin-offs of Academy´s institutes, attract cooperation with other research institutions or companies, or serve to attract third-party funding. Patents allow the licensing of the technologies protected in this way to external companies at conditions in line with the market.
4. In cooperation with commercial enterprises or application-oriented research institutions, research results of the Academy should be made accessible to society through the (further) development of new products, processes and services.
5. The strengthening of the business location and the development of the regional entrepreneurial scene through the generation of start-ups, spin-offs and the licensing of technologies and know-how from the Academy to cooperating companies should be increased.