The role of new ventures for technology transfer from universities and research institutions to companies and between companies focused on the chemical and pharmaceutical industry are discussed in this article. Different aspects of this technology transfer approach like the maturity of the technology, the acquisition of additional resources and the technology transfer results have been analysed based on case studies from the chemical and pharmaceutical industry in Germany and Switzerland. Especially established industries like the chemical and pharmaceutical industry rely on effective and efficient technology transfer to maintain their global competitiveness. Academic spin-offs can help to transfer technologies to the industry if further research and development work is out of scope of the academic institutions. Corporate spin-outs are an alternative to closing operations should these no longer fit into the parent organization. For technology transfer, both spinoffs and spin-outs can be integrated into a new parent company or work as service provider. Internal start-ups were identified as a new approach for company internal technology transfer from research departments to business units focused on commercial operations to overcome innovation barriers within companies.