A Survey Analysis of University-Technology Transfer in Israel: Evaluation of Projects and Determinants of Success

The purpose of this study is to examine how technology transfer organizations (TTOs) at Israeli universities evaluate projects and how they perceive the success or failure of these projects once they are selected. We also analyze whether the criteria they use are similar to those employed by venture capitalists and MIT. We find that the decision criteria used by Israeli universities are similar to those employed by venture capitalists and by the relatively entrepreneurially-focused TTO at MIT. The perceived success of a technology transfer project is strongly related to the quality and motivation of the project team. Dimotech, an Israeli TTO that is focused on entrepreneurial startups, appears to place a stronger emphasis on the characteristics of the individuals involved in launching a new venture than the other Israeli TTOs, which are focused on licensing.