A Visual Representation of Technology Transfer Office Intellectual Capital Access

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to illustrate how intellectual capital (IC) may be visualised and monitored in the university context, using the technology transfer office (TTO) as a unit of observation. The TTO is responsible, in many cases, for supporting academic entrepreneurship. Research has shown that access to IC influences the efficiency of the TTO in performing its functions. Moving from this, the perceived access a TTO has to university IC can be measured across the tripartite classification of IC: human capital (5 indicators), structural capital (13 indicators) and relational capital (6 indicators). These data are then used to create a visual representation of the access that each TTO perceives to have to university IC and to compare it to their overall efficiency. The visual representation allows management at both university and TTO level, to have a clearer understanding of the performance of the TTO and how IC may be leveraged to improve it. These interventions will improve the performance of the TTO and increase success for academic entrepreneurship. This in turn, will aid the university in its pursuit of entrepreneurialism, competitiveness and sustainability.