Magazine names ETH transfer as best technology transfer office

Global University Venturing has announced its technology transfer office of the year: ETH transfer. The technology transfer office at ETH has therefore emerged victorious against competition from universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Oxford.

ETH transfer performed well particularly due to the high number of spin-off companies, as detailed in an article. According to the information provided, a total of 27 companies were spun off from ETH in 2018. In the three preceding years, the total was 25 spin-offs. This can be taken as proof that ETH’s technology transfer office is functioning very effectively.

The article also highlighted the venture capital revenue generated by the spin-offs. According to the information available, a total of 173 million dollars was raised in 2018. At 30.7 million dollars, a large proportion of this venture capital was attributable to Climeworks – a company whose aim is to filter CO2 out of the air around us and provide this for various application areas.

Silvio Bonaccio has headed up ETH transfer since 2001. The article praises his work over the years. During this time, the number of spin-offs has continued to steadily rise.

“All of these reasons make ETH an exceptionally worthy and obvious winner”, the article explains. ETH transfer is also testament to the fact that, despite frequent criticism, technology transfer can work effectively in Europe as well.

Global University Venturing is a bi-monthly magazine with a web portal that reports regularly on spin-offs. It is published by the UK-based company Mawsonia Ltd.