In keeping with the AUTM definition of university spin-off companies, UBC counts as spin-offs companies that meet the following criteria:

• Companies must have been formed to either: (1) license UBC technology; (2) fund research at UBC in order to develop technology that will be licensed by the company; or (3) provide a service which was originally offered through an existing UBC department or unit.
• Companies are included only after legal incorporation. Proto-companies, sole-proprietorships and holding companies are not included.
• After a company has been created, it remains on the UBC spin-off company list regardless of its current legal status (i.e. early stage, active, inactive, closed, merged or acquired). Current company names are used, and acquisitions and mergers are indicated.
• Companies in existence prior to coming to UBC, but which reconstituted themselves around UBC technology, are included on the list.
• Companies formed around technologies bundled from multiple sources, including UBC, are included on the list with acknowledgment of the other sites that contributed technology to the start-up.
• Subsidiaries of a company are not included on the list unless they meet the criteria as noted above.