The Location of Multinationals in Industrial Districts: Knowledge Transfer in Biomedicals

In order to access and exploit knowledge, MNCs are induced to make FDI in technological districts. It occurs in a two-step process: first joint venture and then acquisition. This perspective is consistent with the evolutionary theory of multinational corporations, which looks at technology transfer as a sound rationale for FDI. The location strategy of multinationals produces a reorganization of district structure and a change in its evolutionary pattern: MNCs become catalysts, bring in new finance, ideas and managerial practices, open the district to external markets and international flows of technology. Biomedical Valley in Italy is a recent high-tech district that fits this picture well. It demonstrates that the rationale for FDI was not wage differentials with parent countries, but rather local knowledge and innovation. Knowledge transfer through subcontractors diffuses and recombines inside the district in two ways: becoming the medium for the dissemination of new codes, procedures and knowledge within the district, and evolving from the role of subcontractors to that of independent producers of final products. The case of biomedical district also induces changes of a number of stereotypes and common beliefs about industrial districts and MNCs.     

The impact of participation in European joint research projects on knowledge creation and economic growth

This paper investigates the impact of participation in European scientific networks on the stock of knowledge and on economic growth. We use scientific links in FP programmes to weight foreign R&D in order to construct two different measures of foreign R&D spillovers and we assess their impact on the production of knowledge (patents) and on economic growth in a panel of countries participating in FP over the period 1994–2005. We find that participation in EU funded projects is an important channel of knowledge transfer. However, while for countries with high levels of R&D expenditure R&D spillovers contribute to the generation of new knowledge, for low R&D spenders knowledge spillovers facilitate technological imitation and catching up.     

Technology transfer in the americas

This paper focuses on a particular technology transfer area (Anglo-Saxon and Latin America) and presents possible answers to two questions: (1) What are the technologies most needed in the developing nations of Latin America today? (2) How can the transfer of these technologies from the United States and Canada be improved profitably? In addressing these questions, this discussion identifies key technologies driving economic development through-out the world today, and their particular importance for Latin American countries. To better analyze the transfer process, the paper proposes a general model designated as the relocation/absorption paradigm. This model evidences the necessity of an active approach to technology transfer in order for key technologies to arrive in Latin America. This active approach identifies a conceptual knowledge exchange as the essential catalyst in the absorption of the identified technologies. The purpose of this discussion is to explore issues related to the transfer of very recently developed technologies from the United States and Canada to the developing countries of Latin America. By leaving the political discussion aside, the paper approaches this matter from a technology management perspective, aiming to articulate why technology flow to “south of the border” should be increased, and to offer useful discussions on how to achieve that end.     

Technology Transfer in European Regions: Introduction to the Special Issue

Regions can be considered as “regional innovation systems,” but the question of whether and to what extent technology transfer is taking place at this or other (e.g., national and global) levels remains empirical. The theme issue contains a number of case studies of “regional innovation systems” within the European Union. Other papers elaborate on the pros and cons of the systemic approach to the technology transfer processes involved, or make comparisons across regions. In this introduction, the editors discuss the relations between regional policies, technology and innovation policies, and the integration of these different aspects into (potentially regional) systems of innovation. Under what conditions can “technology transfer” be considered as a mechanism of integration at the regional level?     

University knowledge and firm innovation: evidence from European countries

In recent decades, firms have intensified the exploration of external sources of knowledge to enhance their innovation capabilities. This paper presents an empirical analysis of the factors that affect the importance of academic knowledge for firms’ innovation activities. An integrated approach that simultaneously considers country- and firm-level factors is adopted. Regarding the former factors, the analysis shows that the entrepreneurial orientation of university and the quality of academic research increase the importance of knowledge transfers from universities to firms. This suggests that the environmental and institutional context contributes to cross-national disparities in university-industry interactions and the effectiveness of knowledge transfer. In regard to the latter factors, the results indicate that firms oriented toward open search strategies and radical innovations are more likely to draw knowledge from universities. Furthermore, firms belonging to high technology sectors and firms with high absorptive capacity place greater value on the various links with universities. With respect to firm size, the estimates show an inverted U-shaped relation with the importance of universities as a source of knowledge.     

Technology transfer between the U.S.A. and Europe

The premise is that technology gaps have an important impact on the economic life of nations and also have political consequences. Expressions of concern about the technology gap between Europe and the United States have become steadily less frequent in the recent years. The purpose of this paper is to find out whether some of the lessons that can be drawn from the European technology gap of the '60s contribute to the understanding of the present United States-European technology exchange controversies. This is accomplished by (1) reviewing the European arguments, (2) trying to find out how revelant they have proven to be after a few years, (3) investigating better ways to assess the impact of technological differences with reference to current United States arguments about technology export, and (4) attempting to derive some conclusions on policy implications of transferring technology. It was concluded that important policy decisions have been made and are still being made by technology importing countries with little analytical background on the cost and advantages of achieving a technological capacity. In addition, policy decisions by technology exporting countries are most likely to be made with little knowledge of the real phenomena involved.     

Technology Transfer: An Opportunity for Small Open Economies

In this paper, crucial aspects of technology transfer are considered from the perspective of a small open economy with a predominantly small and medium-sized enterprise structure. The paper uses empirical data from an investigation which prepared the ground for developing a model for the active support of technology transfer in Austria. Experience from technology transfer strategies in other European countries was introduced and integrated in the formulation of policy proposals. These proposals are valid for a broad range of different technologies, while taking into account the possibilities and limitations of technology transfer policy in small open economies.     

Evaluating academic technology transfer performance by how well access to knowledge is facilitated––defining an access metric

Why should research institutions engage in technology transfer? Some say it is about the money. Others say it is about public service and benefit. In the end, we measure what we value. If we only measure money, we confound the non-profit mission of the research institution. If we measure economic impact, the non-profit technology transfer office is often expected to become the economic developer, confusing real estate and business development with technology transfer, often without additional funding. These mission strains lead to overwhelm, fatigue, service shortcomings, and unhappy customers across all classes of stakeholders. This article suggests a return to center for academic technology transfer offices (TTOs) by focusing on a most important question for drivers of our present global knowledge economy––how well does a TTO facilitate access to knowledge protected by intellectual property of its faculty and institution? This article proposes that academic technology transfer performance should be evaluated by how well a TTO avails access to knowledge. Given that performance measures are also referred to as “metrics,” we call this preferred outcomes orientation an access metric.     

Return on Investment in Innovation: Implications for Institutions and National Agencies*

Commercial success in universities in the USA and Canada has resulted in many other countries taking steps to emulate this performance and major technology transfer and commercialisation support programmes have been launched in UK, Europe, Australia, Japan and many other countries—including South Africa. Unrealistic expectations have, however, been generated by the spectacular successes of a relatively few institutions and it is not always realised that the success from commercialisation is proportional to the magnitude of the investment in research. Without a well funded, high quality research system, it is not possible for technology transfer to make any significant contribution to economic development. The possible economic returns to higher education institutions from commercialisation of research can be estimated using international benchmarks. This forecast uses a combination of an institutional return on investment model and a simple economic projection. The model is generic and can be adapted for use in any institution. As more data becomes available from local (and international) sources, the model will be refined to give better estimates. The model is dynamic and shows, quantitatively, why it can take up to 10 years for an institution, and 20 years nationally, to attain a positive rate of return from an investment in research and technology transfer. The model enables the long-term impact of policy decisions, in an institution and nationally, to be examined and alternative scenarios explored. The performance of individual institutions is, however, highly variable and unpredictable. This is even for those institutions that are comparable in size and maturity. A large portfolio of patents and licences is required to give a reasonable probability of positive returns. This may be possible at a national level, but is problematic in smaller institutions—and smaller countries. Because the benefits of the innovation system are captured largely at national level, with institutions having a high uncertainty, public sector support to reduce the institutional risk is necessary to assist institutions to make the necessary investments. Technology transfer is of course only one element of the overall research and innovation value chain. All elements must be functioning effectively to derive the economic and social benefits from research. In addition to a strong research system, adequate incentives must exist to encourage academics to participate, particularly with regard to the crucial initial step of invention disclosure. After disclosure, sufficient institutional capacity must be in place to take an idea, evaluate it, protect the intellectual property appropriately and then seek a path to commercialisation through either licensing or start-up company formation. *Based on the paper “Return on Investment in Innovation: Implications for Institutions and National Agencies” presented at The First Globelics Conference on Innovation Systems and Development Strategies for the Third Millennium, Rio de Janeiro, November 2003.     

The impact of licensed-knowledge attributes on the innovation performance of licensee firms: evidence from the Chinese electronic industry

In this article, we provide a compelling case for demonstrating “learning-by-licensing,” and we further investigate the moderating effect of specific licensed-knowledge attributes on the innovation performance of licensee firms. This case is based on a unique dataset from the China State of Intellectual Property Office regarding technology-licensing activities and spanning the years 2000–2010. Using this dataset we make a longitudinal analysis of the lagging learning effect that transferee firms experience when they in-license technology. The empirical results from 71 Chinese electronic-industry firms reconfirm the concept of “learning-by-licensing.” Moreover, the results also indicate that both technology complexity and technology generality, which are attributes of licensed knowledge, have positive moderating effects on the relationship between technology in-licensing and the subsequent innovation performance of licensee firms. However, such a positive moderating effect was not found for the newness of technology.     

The ivory tower approach to entrepreneurial linkage: productivity changes in university technology transfer

Academic entrepreneurship has been intensively applied to the area of technology innovation and diffusion in the US. Along with the promotion of innovative approaches, universities take advantage of knowledge spillovers from their laboratories to the market for both economic development and financial gains. This study assessed individual university productivity in technology transfer using feasible measures of multiple input–output combinations and data envelopment analysis to examine panel data gathered over the period 1999–2007. A major finding is that there was substantial growth in the average productivity of university technology transfer during this period. The average annual productivity gain in the 90 universities was over 30%, indicating that universities’ technology transfer activities were relatively efficient in terms of their input to output ratio. The positive shifts in average productivity changes were primarily due to the increasing frequencies of commercial outputs. This finding suggests that universities and public policy should pay attention to stimulate commercial activities rather than to increase investments for upgrading a next level of realistic, long-term strategies.     

Technology transfer offices and academic spin-off creation: the case of Italy

Over the past decades, university-industry relationships have become an important subject due to the essential role played by technological progress in the economic development of countries. From a theoretical point of view, several studies have shown the close relationship between investments in research and innovative activities of universities and the economic growth of specific territories. Indeed, the strong linkages between universities and a country’s production system encourage the process of technology transfer and the commercial use of the research results. For this reason, the European Union has implemented a series of measures to promote the adoption of research findings in the real economic and social context, strengthening the linkages between universities, industries and government. As a starting point for enhancing this link, specific mechanisms have been devised by universities. In particular, technology transfer offices (TTOs) have been created to stimulate and encourage the dissemination of the research outcomes, translate them into practise, and facilitate their interrelations with the other two agents of the innovation systems: industries and government. Within this context, the present paper aims to gain knowledge on the determinants of spin-off creation in Italy with special attention to the role played by university TTOs. Specifically, an econometric probability model has been built merging the extant literature into four distinct strands. The analysis, based on the NetVal indicators and primary data survey, has allowed us to assess the Italian experience at an aggregate and disaggregate level.     

Knowledge transfer in academia: an exploratory study on the Not-Invented-Here Syndrome

Today??s society is often claimed to be the ??knowledge society??. Knowledge transfer plays a pivotal role in the whole economic system, influencing innovation management in its very core. This study deals with one of the barriers that might hamper knowledge transfer: The Not-Invented-Here Syndrome (NIH). Until now, this phenomenon was mainly analyzed in an industrial context. However, as the universities play an increasingly important role in the knowledge society, the time seems ripe to analyze this barrier of knowledge transfer in an academic context. This paper examines the influence of the research discipline, the scientific output, the attitude towards basic science and the project experience on NIH by analyzing a sample of 166 Austrian professors from the fields of physics and engineering. While we cannot find a significant impact of the first two aspects, we can demonstrate that the latter two do have a significant influence on NIH. Summing up, this study supports results from the existing literature on NIH and sheds light on new aspects providing deeper insights into the comprehension of this complex phenomenon.     

Perspectives on the success/failure experience and the cost of semiconductor technology transfer

There is a growing demand for Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuit technology in all facets: Process know-how, design skilss, knowledge of the market. The market for solid state technology is expanding exponentially through conversion of older electromechanical and linear applications to digital solid state technology and through totally new electronic applications. There is a trend for a few countries (U.S., Japan, France) to monopolize more and more of the world-wide industry as technology pushes forward. Still, developing countries and even some modern countries want to acquire a VLSI capability for national prestige or strategic military purposes and this guarantees the opportunistic sales of technology to uneducated customers. This presents a problem for both the seller and buyer. This paper discusses the successes and failures of this class of technology transfer, the price, the pitfalls and the actual process.     

Transforming the Post-Soviet Research Systems Through Incubating Technological Entrepreneurship

For many years the Soviet Union and the Eastern block countries (member countries of the former Warsaw pact) had been considered as the main military competitors of the western countries buttressed in their struggle against the West by their economic and scientific resources. The Warsaw pact countries had high levels of R&D investments, a large number of researchers and engineers, and diverse research facilities. On the other hand, output indicators (patent applications, number of papers, scientific citations, etc.), and especially the rates of technological innovation were not so impressive. This paper analyzes the sources of these differences with special attention to the functions played by science and technology (S&T) programs in the formerly communist societies of Europe and Russia. The dynamics of changes in the R&D potential in these countries are considered along with ways and possible scenarios of convergence towards the national systems of innovation of developed western economies. Special emphasis is assigned to the constructive role that technology transfer and commercialization processes along with the use of a network of virtual incubators and the promotion of technological entrepreneurship, can play in fostering a socio-economic renaissance in Eastern Europe and Russia.     

The innovative performance of foreign-owned enterprises in small open economies

This paper compares the innovative performance of foreign-owned and domestically owned enterprises in five European countries. We look at innovation inputs, outputs, and examine how strong foreign-owned enterprises are embedded in the innovations systems of their host countries. We find that foreign ownership is associated with similar levels of innovation input, but higher levels of innovation output and higher labour productivity compared to domestic ownership. In four of the five countries, affiliates of foreign multinationals show a similar or even a higher propensity to co-operate with domestic partners than domestically owned enterprises.

透过技术转移规律看政府的职能定位

两地之间技术水平差距越大,技术转移的动因就越强。而现实中,技术又总是首先沿梯度最小的方向转移。技术转移和创新区域发展,客观上要求政府提供必要的服务,创造条件减小技术转移的梯度,促进技术转移的顺利进行。在当前实施创新型国家发展战略的背景下,政府更应以"仆人"的角色来履行其公共服务职能,不但要当创新的排头兵,还要做创新的导航员,更要做创新环境的营造者。     

Innovation capacity in the healthcare sector and historical anchors: examples from the UK,Switzerland and the US

Innovation is an integral part of economic development in developed economies. In the post 2008 period, a key policy agenda is that of sustainable development, which calls for innovation in all aspects of value-chains. In this paper, we focus on innovation from the biotech—pharma perspective to see whether or not this will lead to a sustainable future for the regions where there are clusters of firms in this sector. We examine data from a recently completed European Union study of innovation in the Healthcare sector from the UK and Switzerland, countries with an historical base in pharma, to understand how innovation pathways vary at the regional level in the broader life sciences, which incorporate biotech and more. Innovation in the healthcare sector in two regions, Oxfordshire in the UK and Zurich in Switzerland are compared. We contextualize our discussion by drawing on studies that focus on the sector in the US, specifically Boston. The analytical framework comprises three elements: innovation systems and national and regional economic development theories are the first two, followed by approaches which consider organizational or institutional activity. This framework is used to help explain and understand the complexity of how innovation is organized at the sub-national level. The overall context is that it is increasing becoming a condition for government financing of research that it has more immediate application in industry or have the possibility of commercialisation (e.g., translational research).     

Random transfer of technology: An unexplored phenomenon

Technology transfer can take place in a wide variety of ways and at many levels. Nonetheless, the topic of technology transfer between countries has hitherto dealt mainly with planned transfers, particularly from developed countries to either developing countries or less-developed countries. This discussion first points out that technology transfer is not confined to the above dyads; it then, more importantly, broadens the horizons of such transfers by touching on and elucidating the phenomenon of random transfer of technology. In the process, it focuses on an important source of random technology transfer; namely, foreign students studying in the U.S. Rajan Nataraajan is Assistant Professor of marketing at Auburn University and Executive Editor ofPsychology & Marketing, a scholarly journal that focuses on the psychological aspects of marketing phenomena. His current research interests are consumer psychology, quantitative aspects of marketing, and international marketing.