Dutch science grows, spin-offs stall

The Netherlands is producing more research than ever, but it's not producing more companies. That is the central finding of the Dutch Spin-off Report 2026, published by startup ecosystem driver Techleap this week. Between 2015 and 2023, researchers at Dutch universities and university medical centres grew by 28%, while new academic spin-offs stayed flat at around 65 a year.

The report tracks 1,033 spin-offs incorporated since 2010. It draws on Techleap's Academic Venture Monitor, a national dataset supplied by knowledge institutions and enriched with Chamber of Commerce (KvK) and Dealroom data. Techleap defines a spin-off as a scalable venture built on scientific results from a public research institute.

Small in number, big in capital

Spin-offs punch above their weight. One in fourteen Dutch startups is an academic spin-off; in deep tech it is one in four, and in biotech almost half. Together they employ around 11,000 people.

In 2025, spin-offs raised €549 million in venture capital, more than a fifth of all VC going to Dutch startups, while making up just 7% of them. Since 2010, they have attracted €3.2 billion, excluding grants, loans and IPOs.

They also reach funding milestones more often: 18% have raised at least €1 million, against 9% of other startups. Among deep tech spin-offs, 45% have crossed that line, and 19% have passed €10 million.

A pipeline that isn't keeping pace

The Netherlands produces one spin-off a year for every 860 full-time research staff. Trends differ sharply by discipline: spin-offs from the natural sciences, including mathematics and computer science, have tripled since 2015, while those from the health sciences have fallen by 58%.

Techleap points to ETH Zürich to show that stagnation is not inevitable. There, researcher numbers grew 13% over the same period while spin-offs rose 68%. Had Dutch spin-off creation merely kept pace with researcher growth, the country would now see about 88 a year.

Lagging abroad, and not getting faster

Internationally, the picture is less flattering. Of the nine countries compared, the Netherlands has the lowest share of spin-offs raising €1 million within five years of founding, in biotech, deep tech and other sectors alike.

Speed is not improving either. For successful spin-offs founded between 2015 and 2019, the median time to €1 million was 29 months; for the 2020–2021 cohort it was 35 months. Dutch spin-offs trail front-runner Belgium by up to 13 months.

From diagnosis to action

The report arrives weeks after the cabinet announced on Prinsjesdag that it will spend €30 million a year to strengthen spin-off creation at universities. Techleap presents its findings as the evidence base for that effort, and sees room to quadruple the impact of Dutch spin-offs.

Its recommendations: knowledge institutions should spot promising research earlier, better coach scientist-founders, and pair them with experienced entrepreneurs, supported by transparent, standardised processes for starting companies. Part of that work runs through Techleap's Spin-off Factory, which is building an experienced-founder network, a guide for researchers and a benchmark of deal terms between institutions and startups. Follow-up research will look at how intellectual-property agreements affect later growth.