A pilot survey of courses in technology transfer offered at selected colleges and universities in the United States

This survey was developed to determine the nature of the programs and courses intechnology transfer now in existence in the United States. A pilot study approach was used, without operationalizing a definition, to avoid excluding possible technology transfer activities. Results indicate twenty colleges and universities offering courses in a wide range of academic settings including engineering, business, psychology, sociology, political science, environmental studies and agriculture. With the majority of respondents, technology transfer is studied as a combination of the history of science and technology, management, information science, and communication. In this sense, it appears to be an interdisciplinary study with a strong direction toward communication protocols, and management skills as primary outcomes.