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Good practice Imported

TecMinho — University of Minho's Knowledge and Technology Transfer Office

Portugal · Braga · See the Portugal profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 50% 67/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 1990, TecMinho — University of Minho's private not-for-profit interface body — has brokered 618 industry R&D contracts, filed 358 patent applications and helped launch 138 university start-ups, while training over 46,800 people.

618
Industry R&D contracts (1990-2023)
348
Technologies promoted
358
Patent applications filed
138
University start-ups supported
3,182
Training actions delivered
46,849
Trainees reached
2,003
Partner organisations
77
Transnational projects

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
University of Minho / TecMinho
Period
1990–present
Region (NUTS)
PT11
Keywords
higher education, technology transfer, entrepreneurship, industrial R&D

Context

TecMinho was founded in 1990 as a private not-for-profit association acting as the University of Minho's interface with industry, organised into three units: Technology Transfer, Continuing Education, and Entrepreneurship.

Objectives

To broker technology transfer between University of Minho research and industry, deliver continuing-education training, and support entrepreneurship and university spin-offs.

Activities

TecMinho brokers industry R&D contracts, files patent applications, delivers training actions, and runs the annual SpinUM business-idea competition to seed new spin-offs. It pioneered university knowledge transfer in Portugal, predating the country's later policy push for such offices.

Results

Cumulative results for 1990-2023 include 618 industry R&D contracts, 348 technologies promoted domestically and internationally, 358 patent applications, and 138 university start-ups supported. Over the same period the office delivered 3,182 training actions to 46,849 trainees drawn from 2,003 partner organisations, and took part in 77 transnational projects. The 2023 SpinUM winners were Screen4Health, Move+ and CodArte.

Conclusions

These figures are institutional self-reported cumulative totals rather than an independent, counterfactual impact evaluation, so they should be read as evidence of sustained operational scale rather than a rigorously measured economic effect.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
TecMinho technology transfer unit, Continuing education unit, Entrepreneurship unit

Conditions for success

  • Early-mover institutional structure (1990), predating national policy mandates for university TTOs
  • Three-department model separating tech transfer, training and entrepreneurship functions
  • A recurring flagship activity (annual SpinUM competition) sustaining spin-off pipeline

Common failure modes

  • No evidence found of targeted outreach to under-represented groups in training
  • Figures are self-reported cumulative totals without independent counterfactual verification

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes Horizon Europe

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

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Data sources

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

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