Managing technology transfer and university-industry linkage in a developing country: empirical evidence from Nigeria

Abstract

Knowledge institutions are key drivers of national competitiveness. The expectations from these institutions now include knowledge transfer to support industrial development. To coordinate these efforts, technology transfer offices (TTOs) become a plausible strategy. In Nigeria, these offices are mandated to manage intellectual property assets, create IP awareness, and engage industry for research uptake. This paper provides a baseline assessment of how TTOs have performed in Nigeria, including key challenges confronting them. Primary data were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire. Results show that IP sensitisation, IP strategy promotion, and collation of completed and ongoing R&D outputs were prominent activities of these offices. Industry visitation and technology open day strategies were deployed to promote technology transfer. Some TTOs performed better than others in IP asset creation, while five of them reported six spin-off products. The paper concludes with key challenges confronting them and proposes appropriate policy recommendations for effective management.