What makes an academic environment friendly for academic spin-off creation: The employees view at two different European universities

Academic environment should be supportive for the establishment of academic spin-offs which are an important mechanism for technology transfer from universities to industry. Using the sample of 377 academics from the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and the sample of 218 academics from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) this study investigates which are those environmental factors which could in eyes of academics contribute to the establishment of academic spin-offs. Studied environmental factors are related to: (1) facilities and access to research equipment, (2) process of establishing a spin-off within the university, (3) availability of venture capital, (4) seminars and workshops on entrepreneurship, (5) sources of assistance, (6) marketing skills of support staff, (7) bureaucracy of support staff, (8) technical skills of support staff, (9) inflexibility of support staff, and (10) negotiating skills of support staff. This study also investigates which environmental factors should be tackled first at the University of Ljubljana in order to catch-up the University of Cambridge in terms of friendly environment for the academic spin-off creation.