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TU Delft is the frontrunner in the Netherlands when it comes to value creation by academic spin-offs in deep tech and the life sciences, according to the European University Spinout Report 2025. TU Delft ranks 15th. This isn’t cause for complacency, says Ronald Gelderblom of Delft Enterprises. “To take the next step in the Netherlands, we need structural funding.” 

In short:

• TU Delft is the highest-ranked Dutch university in the European University Spinout Report 2025, but emphasises that further growth is only possible with structural funding for valorisation.
• TU Delft fosters entrepreneurship through a broad ecosystem, including YES!Delft, Impact Studio, field labs, startup vouchers, entrepreneurship education and strong patent support to bring new technologies to market.
• The Netherlands is standardising spin-off conditions, with Delft Enterprises playing an important role in developing the new national deal terms.

The list is topped by the University of Oxford, followed by Cambridge and ETH Zurich. Other Dutch universities appear at positions 27 (University of Amsterdam), 28 (TU Eindhoven), 35 (Leiden), and 40 (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam). In total, Europe’s deep tech and life sciences start-ups have a combined value of 398 billion dollars. Together, they have created 167,000 jobs across more than 7,300 start-ups.

Semiconductors and quantum technology

The report shows that the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France and Germany lead the way in value creation. Relative to their size, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries create “significant value”, according to the report. The Netherlands is particularly strong in semiconductors, quantum technology, photonics and health. 

The more than 300 Dutch spin-offs have raised a total of 2.7 billion dollars from investors since 2020 and are now worth over 13.4 billion dollars in total: more than three times as much as in 2019. The report highlights TU Delft, the University of Amsterdam, TU Eindhoven, Leiden University, VU Amsterdam, the University of Twente and TNO as top institutions.

Encouraging entrepreneurship

TU Delft runs numerous programmes to encourage entrepreneurship among students and researchers, ensuring that promising new technologies can be turned into societal applications: YES!Delft, Impact Studio, field labs, start-up vouchers and entrepreneurship education.

A central role is also played by the Patents department of the Innovation & Impact Centre, which helps scientists protect new inventions through patents. These patents often form the basis of academic spin-offs.

Delft Enterprises

Through Delft Enterprises, TU Delft itself participates in and invests in spin-offs. It currently has around 70 companies in its portfolio.

The findings of the report are interesting because they focus, among other things, on spin-offs that have raised money from investors (VC-backed spin-offs). “That is an interesting parameter because it says something not just about the number of spin-offs, but also about their quality,” says managing director Ronald Gelderblom. “In other words: are they attractive enough for venture capital to come on board? That is often the first validation.” 

No cause for complacency

“That we are the highest-ranked Dutch university in this study is no cause for complacency,” Gelderblom continues. “We constantly consider how we can increase the number of successful spin-offs, often together with colleagues from other universities. In Delft we have built a relatively extensive innovation ecosystem, but part of it is funded through short-term project grants. To take the next step in the Netherlands, structural funding of the core task of valorisation is needed.”

Uniform deal terms

One of the recommendations of the report is to standardise the conditions for spin-offs. The Netherlands is ahead in this respect. Last week, Dutch universities announced a new national standard for the so-called deal terms. Delft Enterprises has played an important role in developing these over the past few years. 

This article was first published on 3 December by TU Delft.