New data show that universities spinning off more new firms than previously believed

Canadian universities are generating a far greater number of spin-off companies than previously thought with nearly 800 created over the past 40 years, 70% more than captured in the last survey conducted by Statistics Canada. The methodology developed by Dr Denys Cooper has sparked the interest of several other countries. But StatsCan - Canada's official collector of data on the commercialization of intellectual property (IP) in the higher education sector - has no plans to make changes to its current procedures when it launches the third edition of its survey later this year.

As of September/00, 773 spin-offs had been identified with another 6 or 7 pending confirmation. In contrast, StatsCan's 1999 survey identified 454 firms, with another 17 being spun off from hospitals.

Cooper, who is director of strategic alliances for the National Research Council's Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP), says the reason for the greater yields under his methodology is simple. Whereas StatsCan collects data solely from university technology transfer offices, teaching hospitals and other hospitals reporting R&D activity, Cooper includes company formation stemming from IP held by professors and researchers, much of which is not reported to the universities for whom they are employed.

When Cooper started collecting data on university IP and spin-offs 10 years ago, he discovered that - due to the lack of a uniform national university IP policy - many university researchers were not obliged to report their IP or commercialization initiatives to their employers.

"At about half the universities in Canada, the IP is owned by the professor or research and not the university," says Cooper. "I'm confident my database is sound. I'm the only one to include this data and do a full socio-economic analysis, including actual sales, number of jobs generated, growth rates, formation rates and disappearance rates."

By casting such a broad net and visiting the institutions involved, Cooper was able to capture accurate spin-off activity from universities that don't compel researchers to report commercialized IP, such as the Univ of Waterloo. Other universities such as the Univ of British Columbia (UBC), compel all researchers to report commercialization activity, and as a result the number of spin-offs from that institution are the same from both Cooper and StatsCan. In fact, UBC is the most prolific Canadian university measured by spin-offs, with 90 companies created to date. The Univ of Toronto ranks second. The Networks of Centres of Excellence have also had a strong impact on company formation, with Cooper identifying 74 spin-offs as of November/00.

Cooper's data also show that, of a sample of 295 firms in 1997, 19 had more than 100 employees, 66 employed between 26 and 100, while the remaining companies had 25 employees or less.

For its survey, StatsCan collects data on a wide range of information with the objective of illuminating the overall process of IP management. But by dealing exclusively with technology transfer offices, it is able to capture only those spin-offs formed under the policies of the universities.

"We're surveying university administrations and Denys Cooper actually goes to universities and tracks down the professors," says Michael Bordt, chief of knowledge indicators with StatsCan's science, innovation and electronics information division. "I don't see how we could do the same level of investigation with a survey. Even if we tried, it would be anecdotal."

COOPER SURVEY ABOUT TO END

Cooper has long held an interest in generating unique high-tech data to provide a more complete picture of different types of activities than is available elsewhere. In the past, he compiled extensive data on the financing of biotechnology firms, capturing a far greater amount of activity than any others working in the field. He had to curtail that activity, however, when he was re-assigned at IRAP to focus on international activities. And it seems his collection of spin-off data has met the same fate.

"I've been told to drop this exercise and focus on international," says Cooper.

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