Transforming academic research findings into economically profitable technologies

The Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) operates on the principle that pooling investment in basic, pre-competitive research permits members to target a larger percentage of their research and development dollars towards devising technologies that will yield a competitive edge. This benefit is mot effectively realized, however, when the research “product” is expeditiously transferred from the research lab into the commercial environment. The product, in this case, may be knowledge, a design or manufacturing tool, personnel who are trained in the use of the tool, or information about a research approach that should be avoided. At the SRC, technology transfer is essential to the success of its cooperative research effort, and consequently, during 15 years of managing this transfer across the university/industry interface, the not-for-profit consortiun has developed and refined structures and methodologies to overcome transfer barriers. The paper written by Lynn Burnett, Gail Massari and Richard LaScala discusses administrative and managerial barriers to technology conversion and transfer and the solutions developed and practiced by the SRC to transcend those barriers.     

Technology transfer: A look at the federal sector

An important resource in the search for solutions to serious issues confronting the United States is the science and technology which result from Federally funded research and development. To obtain the optimum return on this significant investment requires that the resultant technology be adapted for secondary utilization and/or be transferred to primary and secondary users. This article describes the magnitude and scope of Federally sponsored research and development and describes the major Federal technology transfer efforts. While present technology transfer efforts, mostly passive, are necessary, there is need for more active methods. The Federal government is seeking ways to improve its technology transfer effort. General agreement on the following actions appears to exist: Stronger support by Federal research and development management, and increased commitment of personnel and funding to the Federal technology transfer effort.     

Improving federal technology commercialization: Some recommendations from a field study

This study identified three distinct roles of the federal technology-transfer process in the Huntsville, Alabama region: sponsors, developers, and adopters. The basic structure of transfer barriers and measures during the prospecting and developing of the federal technology-transfer process is also discussed. Sponsors attributed transfer problems to adopters' lack of awareness, while developers cited long development and payback times. Adopters admitted their lack of transfer expertise and their resistance to technologies with long paybacks. None of the role-players were measuring technology transfer very well. While sponsors agreed with adopters that long-term outcome measures were important, sponsors relied on measures of input effort and intermediate results. Developers with the most transfer experience reported the lowest use of measures. Recommendations are made for each role to help improve federal technology transfer.     

Overcoming barriers to technology transfer between small business assistance agencies and their clients: Third world style

This paper presents the results of an empirical examination of the methods small business assistance agencies in the Dominican Republic use to overcome technology transfer barriers. The availability and the methods agencies use to access the world's business knowledge are examined, as well as how the agencies disseminate the information to clients. The discussion identifies barriers that inhibit the flow of client information between (1) the knowledge pool and the agencies and (2) the agencies and the client. The strategies that agencies use to overcome barriers are characterized as push or pull, and informal or formal. Pull strategies begin with marketplace need and work toward the technology to solve the problem. Push strategies begin with specific business information and work toward its acceptance and use in the marketplace by clients. Personal interviews were conducted in Spanish with heads of the 13 assistance agencies in the country. Survey participants were asked about the processes, procedures, and techniques they used to gain and transfer business skills. The study identifies specific activities in which the agencies engage in order to effectively overcome barriers to the transfer of business knowledge.     

Transfer of advanced manufacturing technology from Canadian universities to industry

Although advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) is a key factor in improving North America's industrial competitiveness, there is a problem in transferring it from university to industry. This study, conducted for a Canadian governmental agency, addresses the problem by querying Canadian professors, university-liaison officers, and administrators of intermediary (broker) organizations in order to uncover the processes of AMT transfer; that is, the ways in which technical knowledge embodied in inventions is converted into outputs used by companies. Four processes, in which the critical entities are professors, universities, intermediary organizations, and spinoffs, account for what has been transferred While the first is by far the most significant currently, the third has a high future potential. An analysis of barriers suggests that while some probably inhibit all four transfer processes, others have their impacts on only one specific process. If we are going to raise the number of transfers, we must work more diligently to pinpoint the causes for low levels of transfer. Studying the barriers to university transfer in general should therefore yield information on which barriers are associated with which processes.     

Barriers and Bridges for Successful Environmental Technology Transfer

Governmental policy, social factors, individual behavior, and technology play critical roles in improving the environment. The Department of Defense is not immune to these factors as its actions have, and will continue, to impact its operational environments.This research analyzes the technological aspect of improving environmental conditions. Of particular interest, are the barriers encountered when laboratories transfer environmental technology to an end-user, and the bridges used to mitigate these barriers. A case study methodology is utilized analyzing five environmental technology transfers within the U.S. Air Force.Several key barriers and bridges are specific to the transfer of environmental technologies. They include environmental regulatory agency oversight, difficulty in clearly defining the end-user, and the need to demonstrate technologies to potential end-users. However, many barriers and bridges encountered in the environmental technology transfer, are also encountered in the transfer of other technologies. Based on these findings, recommendations are provided for improving the environmental technology transfer process.     

The role of industrial Advisory Boards in technology transfer between universities and industry

This paper suggests that industrial Advisory Boards (IAB) have a significant, yet sometimes underestimated role in the transfer of technology between universities and industry, in the context of university-industry collaborative arrangements. Some barriers to technology transfer are described, and the role of the IABs in overcoming them is discussed, as a valuable forum for dynamic interaction between researchers, thus acting as a facilitator in the process of technology transfer.     

Cost-sharing — A necessary component for successful technology transfer

The general objective of this paper is to propose the establishment of a federal cost-sharing policy for reducing risk in transferring technology from the R&D stage to commercialization. Minimization of this risk barrier is expected to encourage diverse groups to participate in technology transfer. Section II focuses on specific barriers that impede technology transfer efforts and it presents policy options to minimize identified barriers. Section III introduces objectives of cost-sharing experiments from which cost-sharing policies can be formulated. In addition, we also identify specific cost-sharing participation criteria and success variables for the policy.     

Facilitating public-to-private technology transfer through consortia: initial evidence from Korea

Korean public research institutes (PRIs) are experimenting with a consortia approach for promoting public-to-private technology transfer. This research examines the effectiveness of five regional technology transfer consortia operating in Korea from 2002 to 2006 and explores their characteristics including motivations, facilitators, barriers, and challenges. The paper reports both quantitative and qualitative evidence. Archival and survey data were collected on the effectiveness and characteristics of the technology transfer consortia. The proposition was supported that membership in these consortia can enhance the technology transfer performance of participating PRIs. Reasons on how consortia increase PRI performance are discussed and four key drivers are seen as being critical to increasing the effectiveness of consortia. Conclusions focus on lessons learned for policy makers, PRIs, and consortia.     

Reflections on clinical legal education

The substance of this paper originates from my own reflective teaching practice. It considers the written responses that were gathered from both staff and students as part of an informal evaluation exercise, following my decision to introduce podcasting into the teaching of the Equity and Trusts at the School of Law, University of Leicester. The responses are considered in light of literature that has emerged in recent years on the use of podcasting in higher education, both in relation to law and to other disciplines. The title of the paper bears a deliberate, if seemingly incongruous, analogy to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The analogy is used as a means to explain the three main barriers to incorporating new technology that have emerged in the course of this project. The paper concludes by advocating communication and the development of relationships between individuals as the key means by which “positive disruption” to the existing learning environment may be achieved.     

Health insurance without provider influence: the limits of cost containment

In our previous paper, we showed that market forces can play a significant role in controlling health care costs and that a considerable amount of cost containment effort was pursued by third-party insurers in Oregon in the 1930s and 1940s. Although physicians were able to thwart this cost-control effort, a 1986 Supreme Court decision, FTC v. Indiana Federation of Dentists, found that a boycott of insurers by dentists violated Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Further investigation of recent developments, including the recent Wickline v. California decision, indicates that the primary barriers to cost containment today are not obstructive tactics by providers or provider-controlled health insurance plans. Rather, the primary barriers are increases in the development and diffusion of new technology and society's apparent preference for paying for new tests and procedures regardless of economic efficiency.     

An applied technology transfer process

The applied technology transfer process is a communication process based on planning, marketing, and training. Planning is the single most important element, while pre-planning is also essential. The marketing part of applied technology transfer involves an in-depth knowledge of both consumers and products. A sound knowledge of media is also essential. The marketing step is the key delivery or transfer element. Applied technology transfer is a system that requires skills such as management and communication techniques which can be learned in traditional academic courses. However, other skills such as applied human relations are more easily learned under a supervised workshop approach. More complex technology transfer systems require additional training on a continuing education basis. The development of technology transfer learning centers can also be useful. Applied technology transfer is a research investment rather than a cost. It is the technology transfer process that insures the timely application of research effort. Research pay-off is derived from use of research products. Thus, applied technology transfer represents research delivery insurance.     

Academic spin-offs, corporate spin-outs and company internal start-ups as technology transfer approach

As a rule, a technology transfer gap exists between research and development and the commercialisation of the results. This article investigates the role of new ventures for technology transfer from universities and research institutions as well as between or within companies to close this gap. Based on case studies in Germany and Switzerland, different examples of this technology transfer approach have been analysed. Academic spin-offs can help to transfer technology from universities and research institutions to industry especially if there is the need for additional funding to further develop the technology. Corporate spin-outs can be used for technology transfer between companies as an alternative to closing operations should these no longer fit into the parent organisation. 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.     

Selling the technology-transfer function

Throughout the federal system, agency technical directors, laboratory managers, and laboratory scientists are faced with a combination of increasing opportunities and external interests in facilitating the transfer of federal technology to civil use. But this process is unlikely to be significantly strengthened or provided with the needed continuity of effort without a more organized and conscious effort to sell the technology-transfer function as one that is important to the US economy. This effort should no be limited to convincing industrial leaders and their laboratories. It needs to involve a more diverse leadership, including the media, professional and trade associations, and public interest groups. It also must be directed internally within federal agencies, to the laboratory management therein, and even to the bench-scientist level. Oftentimes the increased technologytransfer activity that one sees in federal agencies and laboratories belies the fact that there remains a good deal of confusion, misinformation, and lack of interest on the part of laboratory management, intermediate managers, and scientists concerning the value and importance of technology transfer to both the American economy and to the laboratories.     

The mismatch between the in-country determinants of technology transfer,and the scope of technology transfer initiatives under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Despite decades of international political emphasis, little is known about the in-country determinants of technology transfer for climate change mitigation. We draw upon the conclusions of a series of standardised, official governmental statements of technology priorities, coupled with questionnaire-based data collection, to shed light on the nature of those determinants. We find that there is a disconnect between what developing country governments perceive as the key enablers of, and barriers to, technology transfer, and what bilateral and multilateral technology transfer programmes can offer, given budgetary constraints and the logic of development aid spending. We show that the well-established notion of making climate change mitigation actions an integral part of sound development plans is especially relevant for technology transfer. We offer pointers as to how this might be done in practice, in the context of the ‘technology action plans’ developed as part of the United Nations-sponsored technology needs assessment process.     

Limited Liability Companies and Technology Transfer

This paper provides an introduction to a new organizational form of business in the United States, the Limited Liability Company (LLC), and explores the potential use of LLCs for technology-transfer arrangements. Favorable characteristics of LLCs are limited liability for all equity holders, avoidance of corporate double taxation, flexibility of organizational form and distributions of profit, and few restrictions on membership. An unfavorable characteristic is that shares in an LLC cannot be publicly traded. The paper argues that, overall, the LLC form promotes certain types of strategic alliances, including those dealing with technology transfer. In particular, LLC characteristics lend themselves well to strategic alliances that form to share risk, exploit complementary assets, reduce transactions costs, overcome investment barriers, exchange technology, speed innovation and development, and make international expansions. The paper also points out why technology-transfer arrangements can and will continue to take on other forms as well.     

State sponsored large scale technology transfer projects in a developing country context

Technology transfer can be seen as an effective mechanism to advance the flow of technological development in a developing country’s economy. Though normally small-scale technology transfer projects are initiated and managed by private organizations, the large-scale technology transfer projects in a developing country are sponsored by the state itself, given the complexity level of and resource requirements for such projects. The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the critical elements of a successful large-scale technology transfer process framework in a developing country context. Four components are highlighted that facilitate a successful large-scale technology transfer process. These are: (i) understanding and selecting technology components; (ii) selecting a technology transfer mode; (iii) negotiating effective process; and (iv) developing capability. Aspects of negotiation and adoption/assimilation capability development are stressed in this paper, which is commonly missed out in conventional technology transfer framework. Accordingly a comprehensive and goal oriented technology transfer framework has been presented in the paper linking all the core elements. A Libyan case study is discussed to illustrate the framework.      

Technology transfer: Toward mapping the field,a review,and research directions

With the renewed interest in technology transfer in academia, industry, and government, there is a need to focus the field. This article identifies the key elements of the domain of technology transfer, surveys the key terms used in the literature and offers some research directions. Technology transfer is viewed as a multidisciplinary phenomenon, and as a field of knowledge, hence this call for a sustained effort to build a TT theory and to generate research streams across disciplinary boundaries.     

Transfer of Space Technologies Past and Present: The Russian Case

Since the end of the 1980's transfer of government sponsored high technology space goods and services to other sectors, industry, and eventually non-government use has been a growing concern of the Russian policy makers. Today the real and functional transformation of this field is on the agenda. The paper is organized as follows. The first section analyzes the evolution of the common approach to technology transfer, looks at the main obstacles to this processes as a whole, and in the space sector in particular. The second section examines the Russian space R&D sector from the point of view of its role and place in the Russian scientific and technological base. New mechanisms of technology transfer are then considered. Here, problems of conversion, commercialization, dual-use, and internationalization are examined in the context of space technology transfer. Furthermore, issues of innovation in technology transfer are discussed. The new networks that are forming through which technologies diffuse is considered. The paper then turns to legislative and regulatory problems, including the discussion of the main principles of the Russian space transfer code, which is now being drafted. It is necessary to underline, that in the Russian case, official statistics still do not help analyze the question of technology transfer.     

Designation of medically underserved populations and health professional shortage areas--HRSA. Proposed rules

The rules proposed below would consolidate the processes for designating medically underserved populations (MUPs) and health professional shortage areas (HPSAs), designations that are used in several DHHS programs. The purpose is to improve the way underserved areas are designated by incorporating up-to-date measures of health status and access barriers and eliminating inconsistencies and duplication of effort. The intended effect is to reduce the effort and data burden on States and communities by simplifying and automating the design process as much as possible, while maximizing the use of technology. The proposed rules involve major changes to both the MUP and the primary care HPSA designation criteria, which have the effect of making primary care HPSAs a subset of the MUPs. No changes are proposed with respect to the criteria for designating dental and mental health HPSAs. Podiatric, vision care, pharmacy, and veterinary care HPSA designations would be abolished under the rules proposed below.