Exploring University-Industry Technology Transfer in India: Two Models

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of policy environment on development of technology transfer in university industry linkage in India. This study reviews literature on design perspectives of university spin offs including large scale survey of Indian universities, cross national comparisons and analysis of documents from professional bodies. There is evidence that policy environment is composed of structures that influence the implementation of a design. There is a policy shift that favoured indigenous state led technology transfer to private partnership in technology transfer in India. The opening of the Indian economy introduced policy environment favouring entrepreneurship. Two models of technology transfer in university-industry are proposed. The type I model is a technology push process that results in an IPR based regime where as the type II is a business pull model that favours university spin offs. Unlike the linear model of growth of technology transfer in the West, there has been a persistent divide between the sub systems of intellectual property and entrepreneurship in India. Research into the environment that designs a policy outcome in academic entrepreneurship may offer a template for a system that co-opts both IPR and entrepreneurship. Indian universities have been analysed for performance based on their traditional role in academics. The non traditional roles like technology transfer have been evaluated only through comparative case studies. This research fills the gap by giving an overview of the Indian scene and proposes theoretical models to understand them.