Enterprises´ external RTD units (spin-outs) — The Basque case

When we talk about a spin off, we usually refer to a new organisation created from a university or technology centre to exploit the results of certain knowledge acquired within the matrix organisation. However, in the Basque country several cases have been identified in which business units have been created by companies or groups of companies, in order to carry out the research and development activities, normally in the form of non profit organisations. We will name them technological spin-outs, in order to differentiate them from the previous case. There are already more than thirty which have joined the Basque Regional System for Science, Technology and Innovation in the last ten years.