A research spin-off is a company that falls into at least one of the four following categories: Companies that have an Equity investment from a national library or university Companies that license technology from a public research institute or university Companies that consider a university or public sector employee to have been a founder Companies that have been established directly by a public research institutionThe two main research spin-off models in Russia are those developed from the Institutes of the Academy of Science and Svetlana. Wikipedia