Origins and dynamics of university spin-offs: the case of Hong Kong

This paper reviews the experience of Hong Kong's university-based spin-offs and start-up enterprises established by five universities over the past decade and a half. It focuses on their development at both the early and later stages. A principal finding is a relatively high survival rate of 73% for the first five years of their operation. It compares the Hong Kong experience with those found outside the Asia-Pacific region. The paper focuses on the technology transfer processes, practices and obstacles faced by the enterprises. The strength of this study and its conclusions are based on its analysis of primary data collected from the total university-based spin-offs and start-up enterprises population spun off in the period 1991 to 2004 (with some partial updating to 2008). We discuss the pattern of spin-offs pursued by the universities of HK and our conclusions as to which model seems to work best.