Toward a strategic classification of university spinouts

Abstract

This insights paper presents a multi-dimensional framework for classifying university spinouts in ways that better reflect the evolving nature of innovation and its alignment with strategic public policy goals. Traditional classification systems—such as industrial codes and sectoral labels—fail to capture the technological specificity, strategic relevance, and societal impact of spinouts operating at the innovation frontier. The framework comprises five dimensions: technological domain, application area, strategic priority alignment, societal impact (via the UN Sustainable Development Goals), and temporal readiness. Drawing on strategy documents and critical technology lists from the UK, US, EU, China, Japan, and Australia, the paper illustrates how each dimension can be populated using real-world policy sources. This approach supports more meaningful classification for monitoring, benchmarking, and targeted support, complementing existing datasets and enabling more policy-aligned, impact-oriented innovation analysis.