Good practice Imported

ETH transfer — Technology Transfer Office of ETH Zurich

Switzerland · Zurich · See the Switzerland profile · See the Zurich profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 29% 76/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

ETH Zurich's tech-transfer office turns research into patents, licences and spin-offs. In 2025 it logged 124 disclosures, 98 patents and 37 licences; ETH spin-offs raised CHF 540M with a 93% five-year survival rate.

124

Invention disclosures processed (2025)

Patent filings (2025)

Signed licences (2025)

530

Active spin-offs founded since 1973

New spin-off ventures launched (2025)

540 CHF million

Capital raised by spin-offs (41 investment rounds) (2025)

93 %

Five-year spin-off survival rate

~4,500 FTE jobs

Jobs generated by spin-off cohort (University of St. Gallen study) (2017)

900 CHF million

Revenue generated by spin-off cohort (University of St. Gallen study) (2017)

3.6x

Average return multiple (University of St. Gallen study)

17 %

Female founders' share of spin-offs (2025)

~8 %

Female founders' share of spin-offs (mid-2000s baseline) (mid-2000s)

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: ETH transfer (ETH Zurich)
Period: 1973-2025
Region (NUTS): CH04
Keywords: technology transfer, intellectual property, licensing, university spin-offs, deep tech, entrepreneurship

Context

ETH transfer is the technology-transfer office of ETH Zurich, managing intellectual property and licensing for the university's research since 1973.

Objectives

The office aims to move inventions from disclosure through patenting to industry licensing or spin-off creation, sharing net licensing revenue roughly equally between the inventors, their originating professorship, and the university.

Activities

ETH transfer processes invention disclosures, files patents, negotiates licences, and supports the creation of university spin-off companies.

Results

In 2025, the office processed 124 invention disclosures, 98 patent filings and 37 signed licences, and 46 new spin-off ventures were launched, bringing the cumulative total of active spin-offs founded since 1973 to 530; these spin-offs have raised CHF 540 million across 41 investment rounds and show a 93% five-year survival rate. An independent University of St. Gallen study of 145 spin-offs found they generated roughly 4,500 full-time-equivalent jobs and CHF 900 million in 2017 revenue, at an average 3.6x return multiple.

Conclusions

The page notes that female founders represented only 17% of spin-offs in 2025, up from roughly 8% in the mid-2000s, and that a persistent seed-stage funding gap remains.

Implementation

Indicative cost: Medium (€50k–€500k) — Involves ongoing TTO staffing to process roughly 100+ disclosures and patent filings per year; no explicit office budget figure is given on the page.
Time to results: Long (> 3 years) — Continuously operating since 1973 (over 50 years); the reported figures represent the 2025 operating year plus a 2017 independent impact study.
Staffing & skills: Dedicated technology-transfer office staff at ETH Zurich handling disclosures, patents and licensing, Revenue-sharing arrangement between inventors, their professorship and the university

Conditions for success

Consistent, decades-long institutional commitment (operating since 1973)
Clear IP revenue-sharing formula to incentivise inventor disclosure
Structured pipeline from invention disclosure through patenting to licensing/spin-off

Common failure modes

Persistent seed-stage funding gap for spin-offs, per the page
Low share of female-founded spin-offs (17% in 2025) despite improvement from roughly 8% in the mid-2000s

Where it fits

Governance type: university-affiliated technology-transfer office
Scale: single research university (ETH Zurich)
Income level: high-income (Switzerland)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-07-23
ETH transfer (ETH Zurich) — accessed 2026-07-23
ETH transfer — impact figures — accessed 2026-07-23
ETH Spin-off Report 2024 (PDF) — accessed 2026-07-23
Startupticker.ch: 46 new ETH Zurich ventures in 2025 — accessed 2026-07-23
ETH news: University of St. Gallen spin-off study — accessed 2026-07-23

Quality score: 76/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 29% in this catalogue (817 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Evidence of impact / measured results3/3

Independent Startupticker.ch reporting and a University of St. Gallen academic study corroborate ETH's own patent, licence and spin-off-revenue figures, including CHF 540M raised by spin-offs in 2025 and a 93% five-year survival rate.

Transferability / demonstrated replication2/3

The disclosure-to-patent-to-licence/spin-off structure is a standard, widely used technology-transfer model, though the sources document ETH's own results rather than third-party replication of the office itself.

Scalability3/3

Spin-off investment volume grew from CHF 425M (2024) to a record CHF 540M across 41 rounds in 2025, continuing a decade-long upward trend flagged by ETH's own reporting.

Sustainability / continuity3/3

The office has operated continuously since 1973, is funded through patent-revenue splits rather than one-off grants, and now underpins 530 active spin-offs.

Innovation2/3

Programmes such as the Pioneer Fellowships and the newer UPortunity accelerator extend the core licensing model, though the underlying technology-transfer-office structure itself is a well-established one.

Inclusiveness / equity1/3

Female founders remain a minority of spin-off teams (17% in 2025, up from roughly 8% in the mid-2000s cohort), indicating slow, partial progress rather than parity.

Multi-stakeholder collaboration2/3

Spin-offs have attracted co-investment from major industry players such as Johnson & Johnson Innovation, evidencing active university-industry-investor collaboration.

Cite this

Evidoria. ETH transfer — Technology Transfer Office of ETH Zurich. Persistent ID: 81930899-94b0-4881-8e38-b80388376915.

Export as decision brief (PDF)

Similar practices you may find useful

★ 67

Technopark Zürich — Three Decades of ETH Spin-off Commercialisation

Switzerland

Since 1993, Technopark Zürich has anchored ETH Zurich's spin-off pipeline: of 530 spin-offs since 1973, 519 remain active, 93% survive …

★ 86

EPFL Innovation Park

Switzerland

The EPFL Innovation Park in Lausanne houses 250 high-tech companies and 2,500 researchers, enabling structured university–industry knowledge transfer. EPFL-related startups …

★ 76

Zhongguancun Science Park — Beijing's Original Innovation and Technology-Transfer Zone

China

Recognised in 1988 as China's first state-level high-tech zone, Zhongguancun in Beijing grew from a district electronics market into a …

★ 76

EPFL Innovation Park (Lausanne)

Switzerland

Science park attached to a technical university that has hosted 500+ deep-tech startups over three decades, with EPFL spin-offs raising …