Assigned by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Top Spin International (TSI) performed an international benchmark study on spin-offs from knowledge institutions. The aim of the research was to map the way public Dutch knowledge institutions, universities and research centres deal with commercializing knowledge by means of spin-offs. The research was conducted at 14 universities and15 research institutions in the Netherlands. With the use of a benchmark of the spin-off practice of 7 foreign universities and foreign national spin-off policies, the Dutch situation is placed within an international perspective. The countries where research took place were: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Besides the 101 employees of the knowledge institutions, also outsiders were involved in order to get a reliable and objective outcome. These were 26 spin-off entrepreneurs and 27 representatives of regional development organisations. In total 153 respondents participated in the research.

From the research, Van der Meer & van Tilburg concluded in which way Dutch universities and knowledge institutions deal with spin-offs. The best practices were distilled and described.

Van der Meer & van Tilburg was also involved in the following spin-off activities:

• Pilot project for the development of a methodology for the restructuring of big companies with the use of spin-offs in the Czech Republic.
• Screening of potential technology areas of ECN for spin-off possibilities for existing business and newly developed businesses. 
• Workshop New Product Development for technological spin-off companies in Ljubljana, Slovenia.