Between 2015 and 2023, the number of researchers grew by 28 per cent, whilst the number of spin-offs remained at around 65 per year. Each year, one spin-off is created for every 860 FTE of academic staff. However, trends vary significantly by discipline: the natural sciences have produced three times as many spin-offs since 2015, whilst that figure has fallen by 58 per cent in the health sciences. ETH Zurich proves that things can be done differently: over the same period, the number of researchers there grew by 13 per cent and the number of spin-offs by 68 per cent.
Investors recognise the value
Spin-offs account for just 7 per cent of all start-ups, but collectively raised €549 million in 2025: more than a fifth of Dutch venture capital. Of all spin-offs, 18 per cent raised at least €1 million, twice as many as among other start-ups. In the deep tech sector, this figure rises to 45 per cent. Spin-offs are also more likely to reach the €10 million mark: 6 per cent, compared with 2 per cent of other start-ups.
Lagging behind internationally
Of the nine countries included in the comparison, the Netherlands has the lowest proportion of spin-offs that raise €1 million within five years. Furthermore, it takes an average of around thirty months to raise that amount. This figure has not improved since 2014, and Belgium, which leads the field, is up to thirteen months faster.
Three chances
According to Techleap, the problem lies in the system and the ambition, not in the quality of the research. The report identifies three opportunities:
Greater scale: actively supporting entrepreneurial talent amongst researchers.
Higher quality: connecting academic founders with experienced entrepreneurs at an early stage.
Greater speed: standardised start-up processes and better access to markets and capital. According to Techleap, this could quadruple the impact of Dutch spin-offs.
