Capitalising on research by creating spin-off businesses has really taken off at the Catholic University of Louvain over the last 10 years. Each year, on average 3 spin-off companies are born from the UCL research laboratories, in sectors varying from IT, telecommunications, nano-technologies, bio-technologies, renewable energy, or the environment. This is thanks to support programmes being put in place by the regional authorities to assist start-up spin-off companies.

As they are only too aware of the importance of technological research and innovation for the development of the Walloon and Brussels economic fabric, the regional institutions have committed themselves to a series of measures which aim to generate closer interaction between universities and the industrial world, for example, by providing support for the setting up of spin-off companies.

Bien conscients de l’importance de la recherche et de l’innovation technologique dans le développement du tissu économique wallon et bruxellois, les institutions régionales se sont engagées dans une série de mesures visant à rapprocher les mondes universitaire et industriel, notamment par l’appui à la création d’entreprises spin-off.

In 1998, the DGTRE or General Directorate of Technology, Research and Energy of the Walloon Ministry of Research, New Technologies and External Relations launched the initial First Spin-Off programme intended for universities and research centres. The objective was to offer a researcher the opportunity to study, and this for a period of 2-4 years, the technical and commercial feasibility of setting up a spin-off company by marketing the outcome of his or her research.

This ‘grant’ covers the salary of the researcher as well as part of the expenses incurred by the UCL during the project incubation period (operation, supervision and training).

An average of twenty ‘grants’ are allocated every year by means of competitions at the universities and research centres of the French Community. The particularly high success rate of the UCL is no doubt closely linked to the quality of its research teams.

At present, 14 First Spin-Off projects are in progress at the UCL university laboratories. Furthermore, 4 new project proposals have been submitted this year.

The IRSIB or Institute for the Encouragement of Scientific Research and Innovation of Brussels of the Ministry of the Economy of the Brussels Region has followed the lead of the Walloon Region in 2006 by creating the Spin-Off programme in Brussels. The objective that was published by the Brussels Region is more or less identical to that of its Walloon equivalent. The funding structure is slightly different given that, in addition to the funding of the researcher’s salary, there is also the possibility of calling upon the services of an outside consultant or to recruit a second person in order to complete the scientific profile of the researcher with a more business-minded profile. The aim of this additional funding, which is granted with effect from the third year of incubation, is to make the project’s economic feasibility study and the future company’s business plan altogether more professional. The advantage of this scheme also resides in the fact that it is thus possible to set up a multi-disciplinary team whilst the project is still in its incubation period. Since January 2008, the UCL is benefiting from a ‘grant’ for the purpose of incubating the Knowbel project led by the Automatic Language Processing Centre (CENTAL) in the field of IT and knowledge management. During the most recent request for applications, the UCL submitted two projects to the jury of the IRSIB in the fields of bio-technology and IT.

These funding tools for the purpose of incubating spin-off projects proposed by the regional institutions significantly contribute to the strengthening of links between university research and the business sector. Even if the funding granted does not cover all of the expenditure linked to the incubation of a spin-off start-up project, these programmes are useful in that they give ‘enterprising’ researchers the opportunity to study the feasibility of capitalising on their research by setting up a business.

One of the duties of Sopartec is to provide guidance to the UCL professors and researchers at each of the project incubation stages, for example, by providing support with the economic feasibility studies (approval of business plan, search for sponsor, networking, etc.) and during the financial set-up of spin-off companies.

If you are active in a research laboratory at the UCL, at a research centre or a non-profit organisation linked to the UCL, and if you wish to study the feasibility of setting up a business on the basis of your research results, please do not hesitate to contact Sopartec to obtain more information.