Essay I Achieving successful technology transfer

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the process of technology transfer and commercialization. 'Technology transfer' has become a popular phrase and a subject of great interest in myriad quarters. Not surprisingly, it has taken on various meanings. To consider it in any detail in the space available, the concept must be bound in several ways. First, technology transfer can be internal—that is, within the same enterprise. It can also be external. Second, it is assumed that external transfers follow strictly arm's-length negotiations. Third, presumably all transfers are undertaken with the expectation that the technology will be utilized in the market, again as the result of arm's-length bargaining. 'Technology transfer' is but the outcome of a process called innovation. This process begins with an invention, an idea, or a concept and concludes with the introduction of a product or service in the marketplace on the basis of an arm's-length transaction.