Proposal of a Holistic Maturity Model for Technology, Market and Founders

Abstract

Academic spin-offs are a particularly efficient form of exploiting scientific knowledge. The premises for a promising spin-off are that the technology is soundly founded and the market strategy is carefully considered and solidly planned. Also, the founder profile should prove personal, professional and entrepreneurial aptitudes. Maturity models (MM) can serve as guidelines that support founders in overcoming the discrepancy between the actual and target state in the spin-off process. However, none of the existing MM that has been identified, covers all these three aspects: technology, market and founder. The MM described in this paper should close this gap. The developed MM comprises nine levels and is described by three dimensions: technology, market and founder. The MM is structurally built on two models, Technology Readiness Levels and Market Readiness Levels. The dimension "Founder" is divided into four sub-dimensions (personality & motivation, skills & network competencies, team structure & culture and image & support from the university) for which proven success factors were used. The MM was checked for completeness and sequence logic and adapted. Finally, an assessment tool was developed, which was then tested and evaluated - together with the MM - by selected experts. The validation demonstrated a high level of applicability and practical relevance. However, limitations of the MM also became apparent during the evaluation, which offer starting points for further development of the model and the assessment tool. Also, the MM must be empirically checked based on the quality criteria that have been worked out (relevance, objectivity, etc.).