scholarly journals Assessing the Impact of Organizational Practices on the Productivity of University Technology Transfer Offices: An Exploratory Study

10.3386/w7256 ◽  
1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Siegel ◽  
David Waldman ◽  
Albert Link
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
University Technology Transfer ◽  
Organizational Practices ◽  
Technology Transfer Offices ◽  
University Technology ◽  
The Impact

Information-based imitation of university commercialization strategies: The role of technology transfer office autonomy, age, and membership into an association

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 573-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Pitsakis ◽  
Claudio Giachetti
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
University Technology Transfer ◽  
Internal Source ◽  
Technology Transfer Office ◽  
Technology Transfer Offices ◽  
University Technology ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Successful Technology

We investigate whether university technology transfer offices, that is, divisions responsible for the commercialization of academic research, imitate their industry peers when designing their commercialization strategy. We borrow from information-based theories of imitation and the literature on academic entrepreneurship to argue that given a technology transfer office’s autonomy to strategize independently from its parent university, information from within and outside the technology transfer office affects its propensity to imitate the commercialization strategy of the “most successful peers,” that is, those with the largest live spinoff portfolio and greatest revenues from spinoffs in the industry. We contend that a technology transfer office’s experience, that is, a function of its age, represents a key internal source of information for the technology transfer office when deciding whether to imitate or not; we also consider the technology transfer office’s embeddedness in a network where the most successful peer is also a member as a key external source of information. From data on 86 British university technology transfer offices and their commercialization strategies between 1993 and 2007 that were drawn from both secondary sources and in-depth interviews with technology transfer office managers, we find that there is a negative relationship between technology transfer offices’ autonomy and their level of imitation of the most successful technology transfer office’s strategy, and that this relationship is moderated by the technology transfer offices’ age and by their membership into an association where the most successful technology transfer office is also a member.

scholarly journals University technology transfer offices: The search for identity to build legitimacy

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Conor O’Kane ◽  
Vincent Mangematin ◽  
Will Geoghegan ◽  
Ciara Fitzgerald
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
University Technology Transfer ◽  
Technology Transfer Offices ◽  
University Technology

University Technology Transfer in Innovation Management

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Hockaday ◽  
Andrea Piccaluga
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
University Research ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
University Technology Transfer ◽  
Research Results ◽  
For Profit ◽  
University Technology ◽  
The Impact

University technology transfer (UTT) has been growing in importance for many decades and is of increasing importance to university leadership, university researchers, research funding agencies, and government policy makers. It is of interest to academic researchers in the fields of business management, economics, innovation, geography, and public policy. UTT is a subset of the broader field of technology transfer, and it involves the transfer of university research results from the university to business so that the business can invest in the development of products and services that benefit society. The research results can arise from any academic discipline, are not limited to a particular definition of technology, and can be transferred to existing and new for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. The core activity involves licensing patent applications and other intellectual property to existing companies and establishing new companies that raise investment finance, to develop the early-stage research outputs into new products and services. In recent decades, research universities have set up technology transfer offices (TTOs) to manage their UTT activities. TTOs adopt a project management approach to supporting university researchers who wish to transfer the results of their research to business. Project stages include identifying, evaluating, protecting, marketing, deal making, and post-deal management. TTOs are also involved in other activities, beyond patenting, licensing, and entrepreneurship, which generate positive impact on society. Measuring and evaluating UTT is a topic of continuing debate, with an early focus on activity metrics developing into a more sophisticated assessment of the impact of university research outputs on society. Current issues in UTT involve understanding the position of UTT in the broader area of research impact, as well as funding and organization models for UTT within a university. The COVID-19 global crisis is highlighting the importance of university research and its transfer out to organizations that develop and deliver products and services that benefit society. It has further emphasized the importance of UTT as an activity where much more has to be researched and understood in order to maximize the benefits for society of all the activities performed by universities.

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