Win4SpinOff

Win4SpinOff

Supports Walloon university spin-off formation through a start-up pathway from concept launch to commercialization planning.

Win4SpinOff is a rolling, continuous grant administered by SPW Recherche that funds Walloon university departments and higher-education colleges to develop new products, processes, or services intended for short-term industrial use, with a binding obligation to create a spin-off company as the project's outcome. The programme is open at any time through a guichet system — there are no fixed annual deadlines — making it accessible to research teams that are ready to apply without waiting for a call window. All covered costs are reimbursed at 100%, including the researcher's salary, up to €20,000 in operating costs, up to €5,000 in legal and financial consulting fees, up to €2,500 in entrepreneurship training costs, and a 15% management overhead.

Project duration is two years, extendable to three years in justified cases. The lead researcher must hold a long-cycle teaching diploma and be employed full-time on the project for its entire duration. A strict one-lifetime-award rule applies: the same researcher cannot have previously received a FIRST Spin-off or Win4SpinOff contract. The programme is exclusively reserved for university or higher-education college departments — private companies may not apply or co-apply as lead partners. The resulting spin-off company must establish headquarters in Wallonia and maintain them there for at least five years following project completion, reinforcing the programme's regional economic development mission.

Applicants winning selection must file through SPW Recherche's ONTIME portal. Research teams in the planning stage should confirm the researcher's eligibility under the lifetime-award restriction before investing preparation effort. Given the rolling intake, a well-prepared dossier — including a credible technology-transfer plan and a letter of intent from a potential commercial partner — substantially strengthens the application.