University of Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain) hosted a workshop on best European practices in spin-off company establishment.

In the course of the workshop, the hosts presented the history of spin-off companies development in Galicia, models for spin-off companies supporting and governmental funding programmes. The host university also prepared a rich and interesting programme of activities, including a number of remarkable reports:

• Historical overview, context and phases of spin-off companies’ development in Galicia, models of spin-off companies, governmental support;
• Spin-off companies at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC);
• Spin-off companies in USC Lugo Campus;
• Adaptation of spin-off companies in different institutional and cultural contexts;
• Spin-off companies “HGBeyond”, “Dart”, “Situm”;
• Opportunities for public and private funding of spin-off companies: UNIRISCO Investment Fund.

The workshop programme also included a visit to the CIMUS and CITUS research centres located at USC Campus Vida. These centres have been functioning since 2010 and house over 50 research laboratories on biotechnology and IT sciences. Since 2010, more than 50 start-ups and research teams have been established in these centres, many of which managed to found their own companies.

Representatives of the partner universities visited the Galician cluster of food industry INNOLACT. The cluster is one of the largest in Spain and houses a number of food production and research centres (Aula Productos Lácteos, QuesoCrema). This cluster is based on developed infrastructure of spin-off companies and start-ups, as well as research and development achievements.

The workshop is the final one of those aimed to explore the European experience in establishing spin-off companies. The next stage of the project is going to be the development of a single platform and database of spin-off projects launched at the consortium universities, as well as introduction of models for spin-off companies supporting in these HEIs.

UNISON consortium members shall discuss the creation of the platform during the next workshop to be held in Tbilisi (Georgia) in the Spring of 2018.

Partners’ news: USC, DSTU, TeSaU ,  NVSU , PSU, BC, MIIGAiK

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