The main purpose of this paper is to analyse whether research spin-offs, that is, spinoffsfrom either public research institutes or universities, have greater innovation capabilitiesthan comparable knowledge-intensive firms created in other ways. Using a sampleof about 2,800 firms from highly innovative sectors, propensity score matching is used tocreate a sample group of control firms that is comparable to the group of spin-offs. Thepaper provides evidence that the 121 research spin-offs investigated have more patent applicationsand more radical product innovations, on average, compared to similar firms.The results also show that research spin-offs’ superior innovation performance can be explainedby their high level of research cooperation and by location factors. An urban regionlocation and proximity to the parent institution are found to be conducive to innovationproductivity. The paper also finds evidence that research spin-offs are more successful inattracting support from public innovation support programs in comparison to their peers.