Technology Transfer Costs Research Articles

From transfer to transformation: how national technology transfer centers drive digital innovation

ABSTRACT Taking the construction of National Technology Transfer Centers (NTTCs) in selected cities as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper examines the impact of technology transfer on corporate digital innovation using the Random Forest approach. Analyzing a dataset of 35,119 firm-year observations in China from 2008 to 2021, we find that technology transfer promotes corporate digital innovation through technology spillover effects, co-innovation effects and market scale effects, with these impacts persist in the long term. Additionally, the positive effect of technology transfer on corporate digital innovation is contingent upon lower technology transfer costs and stronger technology acceptance capabilities within enterprises. Our findings suggest that policymakers should encourage technology transfer to enhance the technological resources available for corporate digital innovation.

Analysis of low-carbon technology transfer strategies based on a quadrilateral evolutionary game

Promoting low-carbon technology transfer is crucial for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, combating climate change, and fostering sustainable development. Based on the “efficient market” and “active government” concepts, a “government-intermediary-receiver-sender” game model was constructed, identifying evolutionary stable strategies and key factors affecting strategy selection. It was found that (1) receiver and sender needs and government policy incentives increase intermediaries' willingness to participate, reducing input costs and shifting government support from incentives to compensatory regulations; (2) optimal strategies emerge when incentives for low-carbon technology senders, receivers, and intermediaries, and penalties for serious defaults by senders and receivers exceed a threshold, fostering high participation willingness and leading to government implementation of compensatory regulations; (3) differentiated penalties are necessary to avoid a sender-receiver prisoner's dilemma but only ensure one side's willingness to participate, while government incentive-based regulation can overcome negative constraints and promote active participation from both sender and receiver. Compensatory regulations encourage sustained technology transfer costs and reduce incentive costs, with optimization focusing on lowering government publicity costs and increasing economic benefits for intermediaries.

The Cost of Technology Transfer in Construction Companies (In Iraq)

The construction sector is considered an important and influential pivot in the national economy of any country. Nations are working to develop this sector, receiving modern and developed techniques. So, this sector can be a carrier or a receiver of modern technologies. The cost of technology transfer between the international companies that sponsor this sector is a matter of great importance, especially since different factors affect the need for this advanced technology. The cost of technology transfer in construction is related to multiple factors presented by Knowledge, equipment, plant, hardware and software. The lack of distinguishing and evaluating the direct and indirect costs in the construction sector during technology transfer may lead to infractions in the company's budget. This manuscript aims to investigate the direct and indirect costs of transferring technology and the major factors constrained by this process. This work adopted a theoretical study and investigated the opinions of experts and engineers (by questionnaire) working in different construction sites. This Manuscript showed that the largest weight of the cost for both modern equipment and counsulant/designers is a direct cost and indirect cost, respectively, for transferring technology in the construction sector.

Evolutionary game analysis of inter-organizational trust and technology sharing behavior in enterprise collaborative innovation

In the era of the knowledge economy, how integrating into the network of collaborative innovation and promoting technology sharing has become the key to enhancing the competitiveness of enterprises. It is well known that inter-organizational trust is essential to technology sharing. Firstly, this paper discussed how inter-organizational trust plays a role in technology-sharing behavior. Secondly, based on “organization is bounded rational”, we established an evolutionary game model to analyze the influencing factors of technology sharing. Finally, we used the numerical simulation method to verify the model. Research shows that affective trust facilitates technology acquisition and cognitive trust facilitates technology sharing. The synergetic benefit distribution coefficient influences the evolutionary equilibrium strategy of technology sharing, and there is an optimal synergistic benefit distribution coefficient that maximizes the willingness of both enterprises to share technology. Technology transfer cost and technology leakage risk negatively affect technology-sharing behavior. The degree of technology complementarity, trust coefficient, incentive coefficient, and the ability of shared technologies to transform into synergistic benefits positively influence technology-sharing behavior. The research provides a new way to solve the practical problem of collaborative innovation technology sharing among enterprises.

Double Taxation of Commission Fee of International Technology Trade and Corresponding Strategies

With the progress of the times, the increasing degree of economic globalization and the rapid development of the international trade industry, international technology trade has become one of the main forms of international trade. International technology trade is of great significance to the transformation and upgrading of a country's industry and the growth of the national economy, and some problems have arisen while countries pursue technology to trade for the purpose of achieving mutual benefit and win-win situations. The article first explains the problems related to international technology trade and commission fees and then analyzes the current taxation status of international technology trade commission fees, mainly studying some problems of the taxation systems of countries around the world and the repeated collection patterns of developed countries for technology trade commission fees. It also points out a series of problems caused by the double taxation of technology trade commission fees, such as: affecting the normal trade between technology suppliers and recipients, causing the high cost of technology transfer, and making the international technology trade market disorderly. Finally, the solution to the problem of double taxation is given, and at the same time, corresponding countermeasures are proposed for improving the development of international technology trade in China.

Does dialect difference impede patent transaction? Evidence from China's inter-city patent license data

This study provides an empirical investigation of technology transfer cost across China's cities by constructing a novel patent license database based on the changes in the patent legal status published by the State Intellectual Property Office of China. We leverage the dialect difference among China's cities to identify the impact of transaction cost on patent licensing. Our estimations employing the gravity model find the followings: First, the number of licenses between cities still decreases significantly with dialect distance after controlling for variables such as the geographical distance. Second, dialect distance does not affect patent licensing between related parties. Third, the dialect distance effect works mainly by affecting trust and contract cost because dialect distance dampens trust, and the dialect effect is stronger for invention patents license and individual licensors. Fourth, the dialect distance effect does not appear to work through the communication and information mechanism because the dialect effect is independent of Putonghua popularity.

Patterns for cost-sharing of agricultural technology transfer in Nigeria

With recent changes in the financing and delivery of agricultural technology transfer worldwide due to inability of many governments to cope with varied needs of clients, most reforms currently being initiated by governments tend towards a pluralistic approach and financial participation of all stakeholders. One of such reforms is through cost-sharing. The authors examined stakeholders’ (extension professionals and farmers) opinions on the appropriate patterns for cost-sharing of agricultural technology transfer in Nigeria. The study was carried out in six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Multistage random sampling technique was applied in the selection of 268 farmers and 272 extension professionals. Mean scores and t-test statistics were utilized in realizing the objectives of the study. Results show that the stakeholders’ overall opinion on the appropriate pattern for cost-sharing was for beneficiaries of service to pay specified amounts of money to extension organizations every farming season through their cooperative societies. Results further showed that farmers proved to have more ideas on the best patterns of sharing the cost of technology transfer than the extension professionals. It was concluded that for cost-sharing to be effective, all the stakeholders have to participate in decision-making and implementation processes of agricultural technology transfer in the country.
 Key words: cost-sharing, agricultural technology transfer, farmers, extension professionals, Nigeria

Kinematics modeling analysis of the geostationary satellite monitoring antenna system

The trend of scientific development in the future cannot fail to mention the great influence of the space field, but in the immediate future, the observational satellite systems are related to communication technology. In fact, in some countries with strong development of communication technology and space technology, the mechanical system of geostationary satellite monitoring antennas has certainly been thoroughly resolved. However, because of a specific technology, the sharing and transferring of design and manufacturing technology to developing countries is a great challenge. It is almost difficult to find published works related to mechanical design calculation and manufacture of geostationary satellite monitoring antenna systems. The problem of proactive grasping of technology, step by step autonomy in manufacturing technology of telecommunications equipment related to space technology has always been the goal of developing countries like Vietnam to limit technology dependence, minimizing technology transfer costs, ensuring national security. The first step in these problems is the autonomous construction of terrestrial transceivers such as geostationary satellite monitoring antennas. This paper presents the kinematics modeling analysis of the mechanical system of the geostationary satellite monitoring antenna. Each component of the antenna system is assumed a rigid body. The mathematical model is built based on multi-bodies kinematics and dynamics theory. The DENAVIT-HARTENBERG (D-H) homogeneous matrix method was used to construct the kinematics equations. The forward kinematics problem is analyzed to determine the position, velocity, acceleration, and workspace of the antenna system with given system motion limits. The inverse kinematics problem is mentioned to determine the kinematics behaviors of the antenna system with a given motion path in the workspace. The numerical simulation results kinematics were successfully applied in practice, especially for dynamics and control system analysis of geostationary satellite antenna systems.

Technology-sharing strategy and incentive mechanism for R&D teams of manufacturing enterprises

Technology innovation is a necessary condition for manufacturing enterprises to maintain competitiveness. As the central part of the national innovation system, enterprises must avoid redundant research and development (R&D) input and blind competition; therefore, it is crucial to guide technology-sharing of R&D teams in enterprises. An evolutionary game model for the analysis of agents’ strategy choice between upstream and downstream R&D teams is established. It shows that the technology-sharing strategy chosen by the R&D teams is closely related to the sharable coefficient of technology, and also closely related to the benefits obtained through free-riding. As the sharable coefficient of technology of upstream and downstream R&D teams A and B is continuously changing, four evolutionary stable equilibrium strategies appear in turn. The coefficient of synergy benefits, the capacity of technology absorption, and the sharable coefficient of technology have a positive correlation with the sum of direct benefits and synergy benefits; the technology transfer costs, the capability difference costs, risk factors, and the relative amount of technology-sharing are the critical factors negatively affecting the technology-sharing of the upstream and downstream R&D teams. A specific compensation mechanism can reduce the cost of sharing and increase the willingness to share technology. At the same time, as the internal incentive factors changes, the technology-sharing system tends to converge to {technology-sharing, technology-sharing}, thus providing decision support for the formulation and effective evaluation of manufacturing innovation policies.

Injunctive Relief in SEP Litigation : The Consideration of Innovation and Competition

The injunction is a significant relief for patent holders. However, if a standard-essential patent (SEP) holder apply for an injunction, it may prevent potential competitors from entering into the related market and constitutes abuse of market dominant position. In Huawei v. ZTE case, the CJEU set a rule of “five steps” to judge the justification of the SEP holders’ injunction application. This issue refers to not only the interests between SEP holders and users, but also the aim of innovation incentive and the aim of free competition protection. To better balance the two significant legislative intentions namely ‘innovation incentive’ and‘competition freedom’and further improve the social and economic development, there are more elements need to be concerned: (1)As for market dominant position judgment, SEP holders should not be directly assumed as a market dominator, following elements need to be concerned: the competition situation among different standards, the market share of SEP, whether the standard is a mandatory one, the competition between standard products and non-standard products, the technology transfer costs.(2) As for abuse behavior judgment, the ‘five step’ is not enough. The identity of SEP holders, the time of the injunction application, the good faith of SEP users, whether the SEP holders charges for an unreasonably high royalty, these factors also need to be examined. (3)As for the assessment of validity of injunction application, the principle of weighing advantages and disadvantages needs to be established. The court should uphold the injunction application if the advantages outweigh disadvantages, otherwise the injunction should not be granted.

Model matching utilizing AR technology

In today's manufacturing industry, there is a shortage of the working population, the cost of technology transfer, and so on. Augmented Reality (AR) technology has received a great deal of attention as one of the effective tools to solve these problems. Among them, particularly, the effects are expected in assembling work at the production site, skill training of engineers, safety training, etc, and the results are actually being announced one after another by companies.81% of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies feel the need to pass on technology. However, only 30% of the companies that feel the need for technology transfer are successful. The reason why technology transfer has not been successful is that there is no know-how or system to transfer technology, and many companies want a technology transfer system if they include the opinion that there is no manual. The purpose of this research is to develop software that inherits the technology of machine tools using AR technology.

Modeling the Cost of Technology Transfer and Economic Growth in Nigeria

This research studies the effects of wireless mobile phone technology on technology transfer and economic growth, and its distributional consequence in Nigeria. After deregulation of telecom industry, wireless technology has become widely available in Nigeria The current study argues that the availability of wireless technology helps to reduce the cost of learning and implementing world technology frontier and thus that it promotes smoother transfer of technology from technologically-advanced countries to Nigeria and brings significant growth in the economy. Using a multi-sector Schumpeterian growth model, thus, it explains the relationship between the cost of technology transfer and economic growth. The model generates two equilibria where the low equilibrium has zero growth. This study shows that a group with low cost of technology transfer is likely to achieve the high growth equilibrium while a group with high cost of technology transfer is likely to achieve the low growth equilibrium. Using the industry-level and the state-level data, the study found that the availability of wireless technology increased transfer of technology measured by the volume of imports and spurred growth in Nigeria. Moreover, the research found that the benefit of the wireless technology is greater for lower income groups and thus the technology helped to reduce distributional inequality of economic benefit.

Acquisition or direct entry, technology transfer, and FDI policy liberalization

This paper considers a number of symmetric multinational firms entering into a host country either directly or by acquiring local companies. The foreign multinationals strategically interact in both technology transfer and in the product market stage. Taking multinational firm competition into account implies that acquisition will more likely become the preferred mode of entry into the host country. This provides a possible rationale for the surge in the share of FDI taking place through mergers and acquisitions even in developing countries. Furthermore, we find that the level of the cost of technology transfer provides a possible rationale for the often observed pattern of investment liberalization. As the cost of technology transfer decreases, foreign multinational companies are first allowed to compete with local firms and in case of even lower cost of technology transfer, foreign ownership restrictions are also removed. Hence, we show that investment liberalization should go in tandem with host country policies that lower the cost of technology transfer.

Relationship between FDI, foreign ownership restrictions, and technology transfer in the resources sector: A derivation approach

In various industries, multinational companies are the dominant players while local firms play a less prominent role. We consider such an industry and develop a model in which foreign multinationals strategically interact in technology transfer and compete in the product market stage. Furthermore, we analyze the welfare implications of often observed FDI policy measures. We find that the cost of technology transfer provides a possible rationale for why in practice FDI crowding out effects are often smaller in less developed countries.We also find that foreign ownership restrictions may reduce FDI crowding-out effects. However, the net effect of these restrictions on host country welfare will be negative. Finally, we find that, in industries with low levels of product market competition (e.g. the natural resources sector), the government may improve welfare by taking away the joint venture equity share of the domestic firm.

Technology Transfer and North–South

AbstractCostless technology transfer is a standard assumption in the international trade literature, however, by some estimates the average technology transfer cost is nearly 20% of total project costs. This analysis examines the conditions under which the advanced country gains when the transfer of technology from the advanced North to the less advanced South incurs resource costs. Results are derived for the effect on production, wages, prices and welfare of lower transmission and absorption costs, and productivity and population shocks. The framework is extended to examine the implications of an improvement in the enforcement of international intellectual property rights.

Complementary approaches to discursive contestation on the effects of the IPR regime on technology transfer in the face of climate change

The effects of intellectual property rights (IPR) on the transfer of environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) has resulted in discursive contestation. On the one hand, the IPR regime is regarded as a catalyst to ESTs transfer. On the other hand, the IPR regime itself is argued to work as a barrier to the transfer of ESTs to developing countries. This contestation moved to another layer of discussion concerning what to do about the current IPR regime and the climate change regime that overlap on the subject matter of technology transfer. The IPR-as-a-catalyst approach prefers the IPR regime to remain as the status quo and that the climate change regime construct an enabling environment by lowering the transaction costs of technology transfer and enhancing the regulatory capacity of developing countries. On the contrary, skeptics of the role of the IPR regime in ESTs transfer prefer an active utilization of the flexible mechanisms of the IPR regime and more interventionist actions by the climate change regime for effective IPR-sharing. Regarding this bi-polar contestation, this paper analyzes why and where this discursive contestation occurs based on the economic theories of market failure. The benefits and difficulties of remedial institutional approaches to tackle market failures are explored; then, complementary institutional designs in compatibility with the IPR regime and in response to market failures are explored with exemplary cases under the climate change regime.

CDM’s influence on technology transfers: A study of the implemented clean development mechanism projects in China

Technology transfers through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol is one of the most important catalysts in the cooperation between developed (Annex I) and developing (non-Annex I) countries for climate change mitigation. With the large-scale implementation of CDM projects in recent years, it is important to timely and comprehensively analyze the effectiveness of technology transfers in these implemented projects on the level of individual countries. In this context, China is of particular significance as it is the biggest host country of CDM projects in the world; 50% of total CDM projects implemented from 2007 to 2012 have issued Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) to 60% of all of the CDM projects. In this study, we evaluated the performance of technology transfers in an exclusive database of 754 CDM projects hosted by China between 2007 and 2012 with issued CERs since CERs were first issued in China. In addition, we developed a logistic regression approach using 11-variables that include a series of extended technology transfer-based indicators from the perspectives of project design, economic level, and technology capability that have not been studied in detail in the past. The results show that technology transfers are more likely to occur in large-sized projects with higher CER incomes, in projects with international participants, and in projects involving types such as HFC-23 reduction, fuel substitute, and N2O decomposition, in comparison to projects involving renewable energy. We observed that over 90% of the technology transfer projects only include importation of equipment or training to China. In our findings of the regression results, it shows that technology transfers occurred more often in regions with lower technology capabilities, less energy consumption, and a lower GDP growth rate. Supported by high local technology capability and the governmental strategy with independent innovation, the advantages of introducing technology from other countries are offset by local technology diffusion. In a market view, financial incentives hinder CDM host parties from introducing new equipment or trainings for the high marginal cost, unless the high marginal cost of technology transfer can be offset by a large CDM with a high CER income. Technology transfer is more income-driven than sustainability-driven at the present stage in China. In our analysis, the drive out effect between HFC-23 and renewable projects in CDM suggests China government to publish more effective incentives to attract more sustainable types of CDM projects with a higher level of technology innovation. The results are also discussed in the context of policy issues, which can be helpful for the decision makers when formulating future sustainable strategic plans and policy.

Technology Transfer and North-South

Costless technology transfer is a standard assumption in the international trade literature, however, by some estimates the average technology transfer cost is nearly 20% of total project costs. This analysis examines the conditions under which the advanced country gains when the transfer of technology from the advanced North to the less advanced South incurs resource costs. Results are derived for the effect on production, wages, prices and welfare of lower transmission and absorption costs, and productivity and population shocks. The framework is extended to examine the implications of an improvement in the enforcement of international intellectual property rights.

Determinants of technology transfer through the CDM: a within-country analysis for China

Technology transfer (TT) is not mandatory for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects, yet proponents of CDM argue that TT in CDM can bring new technologies to developing countries and thus not only reduce emissions but also foster development. We review the quantitative literature on determinants of TT in CDM and estimate determinants for CDM projects in China. China is by far the largest host country of CDM projects and it is therefore crucial to understand the factors that drive TT there. To gain better interpretation, we focus on heterogeneity within a single country and results can thus be linked to specific policies of the country. Our probit estimations confirm previous international cross-country studies, indicating that larger projects and more advanced technologies are more likely to involve TT. In addition, we find evidence that agglomeration effects are more pronounced at the province level rather than larger regions. We also find a positive effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on TT, and academic research and development (R&D) is complementary to TT.Policy relevanceTechnology transfer (TT) is a goal of Chinese CDM legislation, but it is not a prerequisite for project approval. Our estimations show the project specific, technological and region-specific features that encourage more TT among CDM projects. Some variables analysed such as R&D spending and FDI (both are found to have positive effects on TT) can be, to some extent, influenced by the policy-makers. Moreover, we find some evidence for the presence of negative agglomeration effects on the provincial level: the likelihood of TT is decreasing in the number of previous projects operating in the same technology and province. This finding needs to be interpreted with great caution. It may suggest the existence of a learning externality, which could serve as a justification for policy intervention. Any policy intervention requires however careful analysis of potential positive or negative externalities resulting from the agglomeration of CDM projects and a comparison of possible benefits with the costs of TT.

Foreign Entry, Acquisition Target and Host Country Welfare

We discuss entry strategy of a foreign multinational into a local market with initially two asymmetric local firms. We show that greenfield investment occurs when both local cost asymmetry and subsidiary set up cost are small, exporting occurs when both trade cost and technology gap are low, otherwise acquisition occurs. Under acquisition equilibrium the less efficient firm is acquired unless the cost of technology transfer is large enough. We focus on the process of selection of the target firm by constructing sequential offer game, bidding game and repeated offer game. However, the MNC's entry always reduces host country welfare.