Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

113. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide a list of all spin out companies established by third level institutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12467/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Start-ups are a powerful engine of job creation and economic growth throughout the country. Knowledge Transfer Ireland(KTI), in conjunction with the HEA, publishes an Annual Knowledge Transfer Survey (AKTS) to collect information on those spin-out companies that were reported as “active” at year end.

As reported in the most recent survey, there were 110 active spins outs in 2015, that is, those in existence for at least three years and with turnover and/or investment and at least one full time equivalent. The number of active spins outs from Public Research Organisations has increased from 78 in 2013 to 110 in 2015. In the period 2013 -2015, one-third of active spin-outs were reported to be in the ICT sector. Not all active spins outs become Enterprise Ireland clients.

In 2016, 15 spin-outs from third level institutes were part of Enterprise Ireland’s HPSU Class of 2016, the highest ever achieved in a single year. It is the policy of Enterprise Ireland not to release lists which details company names (except in the case of the Annual Report or where prior permission has been granted by the company).

An overview of knowledge transfer activities is included in the second Higher Education System Performance Report which was published in December 2016 and is available to download at .

Active spin-outs at 2015