ETH transfer — Spin-off & Licensing Engine at ETH Zurich

ETH transfer is ETH Zurich's central technology-transfer office, founded in 2005 to manage the university's patents, licences and spin-off pipeline, building on an entrepreneurial track record dating back to 1973.

Annual output has been rising steadily: ETH Zurich set a record with 43 new spin-offs in 2023 (up from 26 in 2022), taking the cumulative total to around 620 by 2024. In 2024 alone, ETH spin-offs attracted more than CHF 425 million in private investment — described by ETH Zurich as unmatched by any other European university that year. The same year, ETH transfer concluded a record 35 intellectual-property agreements with spin-offs, including 25 patent licences or assignments, on top of 141 invention disclosures, 107 patent filings and 49 licences.

An independent 2020 study analysed 145 of the spin-offs (about a third of the total) and found they had created roughly 4,500 full-time-equivalent jobs (about 30 per company — more than double the average Swiss start-up), generated close to CHF 900 million in revenue in 2017, and reached an equity value of nearly CHF 5 billion in the sample (extrapolated to roughly CHF 10 billion across all spin-offs), with a 3.6x average money multiple for investors. Ninety-three percent of ETH spin-offs survive past their five-year mark, and about 10% have completed an exit. Artificial intelligence and biotechnology are now the largest sectors for new spin-offs, and female co-founder participation has been rising (around a quarter of 2023's new cohort) from a low base.

95% of spin-offs remain based in Switzerland, anchoring the returns from ETH's research locally rather than exporting the value created.

Read the full analysis: https://transfer.ethz.ch/impact.html