Technology Transfer from University-Based Research Centers

Abstract

Since the 1980s American research universities have become increasingly involved in such technology transfer activities as technology business incubators (Mian, 1997), technology licensing offices (Massing, 1996), and technology parks. Another expression of academic capitalism (Slaughter & Leslie, 1997) in facilitating the transfer of technological innovations in order to contribute to local economic development (and to acquire increased funding for research) is through university-based research centers. The number of these organized research units has increased rapidly in recent decades (Cohen, Florida, & Gee, 1994). Research centers obtain much of their funding from sources external to the university and serve a boundary-spanning function in facilitating flows of information and resources between the university and its environment. The present article reports findings from an investigation of technology transfer from all 55 research centers at one research university, the University of New Mexico (UNM), which is located in technology-rich Northern New Mexico. We gathered data from each research center in order to answer the following research questions. 1. What is the nature of the typical research center at the University of New Mexico? 2. Why have the number of research centers, and their total funding, been increasing rapidly at the University of New Mexico during the 1990s? 3. Why are research centers founded? 4. What is the role of the director in creating and maintaining a research center? 5. How do university-based research centers transfer technology to private companies and to other organizations? 6. What determines the effectiveness of research centers in reaching their objectives? Past Research on Research Centers Considerable research has been conducted on various types of university-based research centers in science and engineering that are funded (at least initially and partially) by the National Science Foundation (for example, Eveland, 1985; Feller & Roesner, 1995; Gibson & Harlan, 1995; Gray, Gidley, & Koester, 1988; Gray, Hetzner, Eveland, & Gidley, 1986; Gray, Johnson, & Gidley, 1986; Grillon, 1995; Morgan, 1993; Tash & Stahler, 1997). However, research centers supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) comprise 1% or 2% of all university-based research centers (at the University of New Mexico only 1 of the 55 research centers was NSF-initiated). Much less scholarly research attention has been directed to university-based research centers in science and engineering that are not supported by the NSF. A 1990 nationwide survey of university-industry research centers in U.S. universities estimated that 12,000 professors and 22,300 doctoral-level researchers were involved, with total funding of $4.12 billion (Cohen et al., 1994). These are underestimates because the study by Cohen et al. only included research centers in science and engineering, which on the basis of available data we estimate are approximately half of all university-based research centers today. Tash and Stahler (1997) gathered survey data from 287 research centers that received industrial support at 114 of the 150 leading U.S. research universities. Most of the 287 research centers of study were in science and engineering fields. Our literature search disclosed no investigation of all the research centers at a single university, including those organized research units in the social sciences, medicine, education, law, and other fields. Technology is information put into use in order to carry out some task. Technology transfer is the application of information into use (Rogers, 1995). The information that is transferred results from research that is conducted, perhaps in order for it to be applied to the development and commercialization of new or improved products or services that are sold in the marketplace by private companies (Matkin, 1990). …