Organizational factors related to technology transfer and innovation

This paper highlights those organizational factors which the research literature indicates as having an impact upon an organization's likelihood to exhibit innovative behavior. Measures of technical progressiveness, characteristics of firms receptive to outside information, the effect of organizational size, internal structure and procedures, and other factors are investigated, as are policies which encourage innovation. It is concluded that most research offers little of value to one desiring to make agiven organization more innovative (such as through effective internal communication of technical information), but is of value to an outsider attempting to identifywhich organizations are likely to be receptive to new technology.     

Identifying core topics in technology and innovation management studies: a topic model approach

The study of technology and innovation management (TIM) has continued to evolve and expand with great speed over the last three decades. This research aims to identify core topics in TIM studies and explore their dynamic changes. The conventional approach, based on discrete assignments by subjective judgment with predetermined categories, cannot effectively capture latent topics from large volumes of scholarly data. Hence, this study adopts the topic model approach, which automatically discovers topics that pervade a large and unstructured collection of documents, to uncover research topics in TIM research. The 50 topics of TIM research are identified through the Latent Dirichlet Allocation model from 11,693 articles published from 1997 to 2016 in 11 TIM journals, and top 10 most popular topics in TIM research are briefly reviewed. We then explore topic trends by examining the changes in topics rankings over different time periods and identifying hot and cold topics of TIM research over the last two decades. For each of the 11 TIM journals, the areas of subspecialty and the effects of editor changes on topic portfolios are also investigated. The findings of this study are expected to provide implications for researchers, journal editors, and policy makers in the field of TIM.     

University technology transfer in China: a literature review and taxonomy

The Chinese university system is one of the world’s largest academic research performers and technology transfer is one of the system’s central roles. Academic interest in Chinese university technology transfer in both the West and China has increased in parallel. This review aims to outline what is known and evaluate the state of research about university technology transfer in China. To be comprehensive, uniquely this review considers the relevant journal articles in both English and Chinese languages. The major themes and methodologies used by authors are identified. The evolution of the literature, particularly those in Chinese from general discussions often with minimal citations to more empirically rigorous studies is documented. It is also shown that the English and Chinese language literatures have little overlap in terms of citations, thereby indicating that the two research communities are still largely disconnected. It is found that the sources of data have remained quite limited and the quantitative research is based almost entirely upon government statistics collected for administrative purpose. The concluding discussion suggests possible avenues for future progress in terms of developing new data sources and increasing the cross-fertilization of two research communities.     

The contributions of invention management companies to technology transfer

A new type of organization which is explicitly dedicated to technology transfer has emerged in the United States: Companies which manage inventions produced by universities, independent inventors and other creative groups. This paper shows that these “Invention Management Companies” (IMCs) make important and unique contributions to technology transfer on legal issues (e.g., guarding against patent infringements), marketing (e.g., convincing a company to commercialize au invention) and advocating the invention against the organized opposition of established technologies. Given the contributions of IMCs to an emerging system for encouraging innovation (an “Inventive Society”), the paper recommends broadening the role of IMCs as information providers and linking them to incubators and venture capital companies.     

技术创新与制度创新的关系

本文从技术创新与制度创新的概念出发，论述技术创新与制度创新之间的辩证关系。尤其是制度在不适应生产力发展的状况下，即制度不均衡的情况下，对经济发展起重要作用的不是技术，而是制度的创新。     

Factors influencing technology transfer: The case of China

Transferring and utilizing technology in developing economies is a vital issue for economic growth. Often the separation between R&D institutes and industrial concerns limits the transfer of technology. The People's Republic of China, which has conducted R&D in institutes separate from the potential user firms, has recently moved to facilitate domestic technology transfer from R&D institutes to R&D consumers. This study, based on the statistical analysis of 60 R&D institutes in the machinery sector in China, found that, while R&D intensity improves transfer of technology, funding and employee mobility hinders transfer. His special area is in science and technology policy. He had worked for the State Science and Technology Commission of China for six years before he came to the US.     

Explaining differences in sub-national patterns of clean technology transfer to China and India

The Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has the capacity to incentivize the international transfer of environmentally sound technologies. Given that both countries are expected to have similar incentives when managing the distribution of technology transfer within the country, why do sub-national patterns in the allocation of projects with technology transfer differ? Using comparable political–economic data compiled for China and India, we offer an explanation for these differences. In China, where the government regards the CDM as a tool for achieving sustainable development, technology transfer is concentrated in provinces that need it the most and that are most conducive to receiving transfers (i.e., economically less developed, yet heavily industrialized provinces). In India, where the government takes on a “laissez-faire” approach to the CDM, neither level of economic development nor that of industrialization affects clean technology transfer. In this regard, although the incentives are similar, the capacity to pursue them is not comparable. We test these hypotheses using data on CDM technology transfer across Chinese provinces and Indian states during the 6-year period from 2004 to 2010.     

Patent laws and innovation in China

This paper explores whether the patent laws and intellectual property rights (IPR) system in China have resulted in innovation during the reform period. Subject to criticism on account of imperfect enforcement, the patent law system has produced a stock of patents which has grown rapidly alongside economic growth. The success rate of patent applications is similar across the country despite the considerable regional disparities in income and in the level of innovation. This paper presents a simple model of patent production in China derived from the patent law system that also considers the relevant contextual factors that could influence innovation. The main innovation input of R&D personnel is found to be a significant determinant of patents. While per capita GDP increases the propensity to innovate across all regions, notable heterogeneity exists whereby the coastal, central and interior areas are associated with different factors that produce innovation and influence the innovation process. The paper concludes that China's imperfect IPR system is nevertheless generating innovation as the country develops and hinges on the key factor of researchers.     

Research expenditures,technology transfer activity,and university licensing revenue

In this paper we relate university licensing revenues to both university research expenditures and characteristics of the university and the university technology transfer office. We apply the Hausman–Taylor estimator for panel data with time-invariant explanatory variables and the Arellano–Bover dynamic panel model to unbalanced panels for the years 1991–2003 and balanced panels for the years 1995–2003. We find conflicting evidence regarding the short-term impacts of research expenditures on licensing revenues. On the other hand, both early initiation of technology transfer programs and staff size increase expected licensing revenues. Staff size and early entry appear to be substitutes, however. One-year lagged licensing revenue has strong predictive power for current licensing revenue. Further research is necessary to analyze changes in technology transfer office efficiency over time and the contribution of technology transfer to larger university missions.     

Social impact analysis on technology transfer

As societies and cultures are changed, technology transfer is an integral part of the process of creating a new world order. A primary question is whether technology transfer serves as a force for good or evil. Based on some of the recent history of the United States and the impact oftechnology transfer upon a small group of tribal people in India, this article discusses the need for a social impact analysis approach to ameliorate the negative effects of rapid changes caused by unregulated technology transfer.     

Entrepreneurial finance and technology transfer

Scholars in technology transfer come from a variety of different backgrounds and employ different theoretical and methodological assumptions. Such multidisciplinary approach has fertilized the evolution of a florid technology transfer literature, with insights from entrepreneurship, economics, and management. This paper brings the perspective of entrepreneurial finance into the realm of technology transfer, and identifies emerging topics that can complement our understanding of some aspects of technology transfer, especially with regard to supply-side public policies. This article introduces the rationale for the special issue dedicated to entrepreneurial finance and technology transfer. We summarize the main topics and themes covered by a selection of papers presented at the annual conference of the Technology Transfer Society in 2013, and suggest areas for future research.     

Cognitive mapping in technology transfer

Frequent tensions continue to plague the operations of multinational corporations (MNCs) in less-developed countries (LDCs). Accusations of insensitivity and heed-lessness toward the needs and aspirations of LDCs are commonplace. In this writer's opinion, negative perceptions of the MNCs' operations result in part from differing “world views” between the two groups that are frequently overlooked in strategy formulation. This paper is an attempt to demonstrate that productive, culturally sensitive strategies can be formulated if MNCs use a multiple-perspective approach in their relationships with LDCs. To illustrate this, cognitive mapping is used to analyze the MNCs' decisionmaking behavior. Use of this process should provide MNCs with an opportunity to evaluate the consequences of their actions, the prospect of more effective strategies emerges.     

Team boundary-spanning activities and performance of technology transfer organizations: evidence from China

The Journal of Technology Transfer - This study performs an in-depth analysis of the causes and consequences of team boundary-spanning activities in the context of Chinese technology transfer, by...     

Chinese technology transfer policy: the case of the national independent innovation demonstration zone of East Lake

This paper analyzes the technology transfer policies that are being developed to reduce the regional disparities in economic growth in China. In particular, these technology transfer policies focus on increasing the innovative activity in central China, in order to spur economic development and growth.     

A legal perspective on university technology transfer

In the thirty-five years after passage of the Bayh–Dole Act of 1980, a robust literature has documented the emergence of university technology transfer as a critical mechanism for the dissemination and commercialization of new technology stemming from federally-funded research. Missing from these investigations, however, is what this paper terms the legal perspective, an understanding of how the law and its attendant mechanisms impact university technology transfer. Specifically, the paper reviews the extant legal scholarship and provides examples of how case law, legal structures, and the unique nature of intellectual property law affects technology transfer, as well as higher education policy and management. Throughout, we propose critical questions for future investigation, which serve to form a cross-disciplinary research agenda that can contribute fresh insights to scholarly and policy discussions related to the role of universities in economic and social development.