Spin-off companies – Definition
A spin-off company is defined as a “Capital Company” established by the academic or research staff of the research organisations of the country for the purpose of commercial exploitation of the research results and knowledge produced by these staff, alone or in cooperation with third natural or legal persons of national or foreign origin, in the context of their activities in the research organisations”.
Regulatory framework
The Law 4864/2021, entitled “Strategic investments and improvement of the investment environment through the acceleration of procedures in private and strategic investments, creation of a framework for spin-off companies and other urgent provisions for development”, regulated with specific provisions the way of establishment and operation of spin-off companies of Higher Education Institutions and Research Centres.
Who they are founded by
Members of the spin-off can be the researchers who produced the research results or knowledge, NTUA, as well as any third party, natural or legal persons (companies) that can participate either at the time of its establishment or at a later stage.
The participation of NTUA is possible, as is the participation of third natural or legal persons.
With the respective approval of the Rector’s Council, NTUA can participate in the partnership of a spin-off through the NTUA Special Account for Research Funding (ELKE-NTUA). In this case, the spin-off shall bear the name ‘NTUA Spin-Off’ and may use the logo of the institution and/or of the ELKE with permission. The corporate participation of the NTUA may take the form of a financial contribution or a contribution in kind (the contribution in kind being the result of the research activity, the use of which is contributed to the partnership).
NTUA may however choose not to participate in the establishment partnership, in which case the spin-off will be designated as an “NTUA-supported spin-off”.
In any case, the use and exploitation of the intellectual product (discovery, invention, research result) is regulated by the spin-off contract, which is submitted as a draft to the Research Committee at the stage of the approval of the establishment of the company and is signed after approval and before the establishment of the company (registration of the company in the public General Register of Companies – ΓΕΜΗ). The spin-off contract specifies in detail the terms of the product concession and the financial consideration for it.
How they are established The decision-making body for the establishment of a spin-off company is the Rector’s Council. Interested researchers shall first inform the Technology Transfer Office of their intention to establish a spin-off company in order to be guided on the next steps. The procedure for the establishment of a spin-off company is presented schematically below and described in detail in the updated “Regulation on the establishment of spin-offs at NTUA”.
