Knowledge Transfer Organizations Research Articles

Digital literacy impact on the subjective well-being of the region young population

Digital literacy is a crucial component of professional and life competence in the modern world and an important condition for the subjective well-being of a modern person. The components of digital literacy are numerous and reflect various aspects: from technical skills to the organisation of knowledge transfer, as well as communication. The younger generation acquires skills in using digital interaction content almost from preschool age. In this regard, it becomes important for future adults to assess the impact of their digital literacy level on subjective well-being, as well as on awareness of its application and improvement possibilities. The article provides analysis of a sociological study results aimed at identifying the impact of digital literacy on the subjective well-being of young people. The empirical base includes the results of an online survey conducted on the territory of Kursk and the Kursk region in October-November 2023. The sample totaled 450 respondents. Understanding young people’s ideas about digital literacy and its impact on subjective well-being will make it possible to more specifically define the necessary measures to enhance digital training, promptly meet individual or group requests when organising studying process and improving competence in the field of digital technologies.

Improving grading of recommendations assessment, development, and evaluation evidence tables part 4: a three-arm noninferiority randomized trial demonstrates improved understanding of content in summary of findings tables with a new format

ObjectivesTo evaluate alternative formats of summary of findings (SoF) tables for single comparison with multiple outcomes. Study Design and SettingWe conducted a three-arm randomized controlled noninferiority trial (RCT) in the following systematic review (SR) users: researchers, clinical practice guideline developers, health care providers, policymakers, and knowledge transfer organizations to measure understanding, accessibility, satisfaction, and preference across the current grading of recommendations assessment, development, and evaluation (GRADE) SoF, an alternative GRADE SoF, or an adapted evidence-based practice center (EPC) program SoF table. ResultsOne Hundred Seventy-Nine participants were randomized, and 129 participants completed the RCT (n = 47 current GRADE, n = 41 alternative GRADE, n = 41 adapted EPC). Understanding the certainty of evidence and treatment effect was comparable across groups. The adapted EPC SoF table was inferior for quantifying risk and RD compared to the alternatives (<35% correct vs. >85% correct). Participants reported increased satisfaction when SoF tables presented number needed to treat (NNT), anticipated absolute effect differences, and narrative syntheses for evidence that could not be meta-analyzed. Participants reported accessibility to information as significantly better in both GRADE SoF tables, when compared with the adapted EPC SoF table. Participants preferred the alternative GRADE SoF table format. ConclusionThe alternative GRADE SoF table is a promising format for SR users preferring a comprehensive presentation of SR results for single comparisons.

Treatment With Tumor-infiltrating Lymphocytes in Advanced Melanoma: Evaluation of Early Clinical Implementation of an Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL)-therapy in advanced melanoma is an advanced therapy medicinal product (ATMP) which, despite promising results, has not been implemented widely. In a European setting, TIL-therapy has been in use since 2011 and is currently being evaluated in a randomized controlled trial. As clinical implementation of ATMPs is challenging, this study aims to evaluate early application of TIL-therapy, through the application of a constructive technology assessment (CTA). First the literature on ATMP barriers and facilitators in clinical translation was summarized. Subsequently, application of TIL-therapy was evaluated through semistructured interviews with 26 stakeholders according to 6 CTA domains: clinical, economic, patient-related, organizational, technical, and future. In addition, treatment costs were estimated. A number of barriers to clinical translation were identified in the literature, including: inadequate financial support, lack of regulatory knowledge, risks in using live tissues, and the complex path to market approval. Innovative reimbursement procedures could particularly facilitate translation. The CTA survey of TIL-therapy acknowledged these barriers, and revealed the following facilitators: the expected effectiveness resulting in institutional support for an internal pilot, the results of which led to the inclusion of TIL-therapy in a national coverage with evidence development program, the availability of an in-house pharmacist, quality assurance expertise and a TIL-skilled technician. Institutional and national implementation of TIL-therapy remains complex. The promising clinical effectiveness is expected to facilitate the adoption of TIL-therapy, especially when validated through a randomized controlled trial. Innovative and conditional reimbursement procedures, together with the organization of knowledge transfer, could support and improve clinical translation of TIL and ATMPs.

The organization of knowledge transfer in the context of Chinese cross-border acquisitions in developed economies

This article investigates how Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) organize knowledge transfer through cross-border acquisitions in developed economies, by employing an organizational learning perspective, and investigating Chinese acquisitions in the German industrial sector. Engaging in several activities (e.g., establishment of R&D centers, joint ventures, and staff deployment, etc.), Chinese enterprises ultimately aim for stimulating the interaction between the acquired target and the parent company. Challenging the conventional wisdom, knowledge transfer also happens reciprocally. The absorptive and disseminative capacities of both partners, along with the knowledge characteristics, and the intercultural issues, moderate the effectiveness of knowledge transfer.

Understanding reconfiguration pathways of agri-food value chains for smallholder farmers

Purpose – Smallholder farmers often deal with lack of information and knowledge, weak financial capacity and limited collaboration and network orientation. This is hampering their ability to adopt or co-develop innovation, and to participate in value chain exchanges. This calls for using intermediary organizations. The purpose of this paper is to understand how innovation intermediaries engage with smallholder farmers and provoke value chain reconfigurations. Design/methodology/approach – The authors systematically review literature to draw cases on intermediaries operating in the agri-food sector in several geographical and socio-economic contexts. The authors then adopt a theory building from cases approach to identify relationships between smallholder farmers and innovation intermediaries, and their effects in the reconfiguration of value chains. Findings – Consultants, knowledge transfer organizations (KTOs) and broker organizations (BOs) are the three typologies of intermediaries identified. While consultants facilitate change by modifying the way smallholders engage in transactions with their buyers and input providers, KTOs focus on farmers engagement in the value chain by stimulating the formation of knowledge platform or partnership. BOs operate in a similar way as compared to KTOs but mainly by forming and facilitating access to informal networks. Practical implications – The authors build a framework in which relationships between typologies of intermediary organizations and types of innovation processes are connected with changes at value chain level. Originality/value – The authors highlight how diverse forms of intermediations may stimulate not only smallholder farmers’ participation in innovation networks but also value chain reconfigurations.

Aligning university–industry interactions: The role of boundary spanning in intellectual capital transfer

In the UK, the boundary spanning role has taken on greater significance as successive governments emphasize how universities should play in direct knowledge transfer and changing academics' visions over third mission functions. Studies in the UK have focused on the relative performance of technology transfer organizations (TTOs)/knowledge transfer organizations (KTOs) or their use by academics and external organizations. Compared to their US and international counterparts, TTOs/KTOs at UK universities exhibit low-levels of absolute efficiency. Therefore questions remain relating to how to raise the efficiency and productivity of these units, how to attract and train staff with suitable qualifications/capabilities and how to change adverse attitudes towards knowledge exchange by some academics. Currently, there is a lack of a holistic view of these functions and the way they complement each other or coordinate their activities. This study addresses this gap in theory and practise and advances how universities should provide consistency in both the internal and the external interfaces, by the offer of a framework and key stakeholder insights.

Which Factors do Affect Success of Business Incubators

Entrepreneurial process, from the recognition or creation of business opportunities to the exploitation of opportunities through new firm creation, requires nascent entrepreneurs to be jacks of all trades even though they need not to be a master of all. Focusing on the role of business incubators as knowledge transfer organizations, this study examines how the scope and focus of skills that incubation managers can transfer to nascent entrepreneurs affect new firm creation, and how the impacts vary according to technological categories. Estimated Tobit models show that technological skills of incubation managers are particularly beneficial for incubatees in science-based sectors. Furthermore, formal alliances with and the geographical contiguity to universities do not help business incubators spawn science-based startups. Policy implications of the results are discussed. 

Selecting the right channel for knowledge transfer between industry and science

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the relationship between the types of R&D‐activities within science‐based firms and the knowledge transfer channels used for industry‐science collaboration. Rooted in a contingency approach, it seeks to identify patterns in the organization of knowledge transfer and to disclose ways that may support R&D‐managers in achieving effective knowledge transfer.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is an exploratory study in order to obtain a deep understanding of the relationship. At first, both the types of R&D‐activity and the knowledge transfer channels were conceptualized based on an extensive literature review. Second, data were collected by means of semi‐structured interviews with 17 (assistant) R&D‐managers of ten large European chemical firms.Findings – The analysis suggests that almost each of the knowledge transfer channels used for industry‐science collaboration has a more or less unique link to a specific type of R&D‐activity. An empirically based model is devel...

The Governance of University Knowledge Transfer: A Critical Review of the Literature

Universities have long been involved in knowledge transfer activities. Yet the last 30 years have seen major changes in the governance of university–industry interactions. Knowledge transfer has become a strategic issue: as a source of funding for university research and (rightly or wrongly) as a policy tool for economic development. Universities vary enormously in the extent to which they promote and succeed in commercializing academic research. The identification of clear-cut models of governance for university–industry interactions and knowledge transfer processes is not straightforward. The purpose of this article is to critically discuss university knowledge transfer models and review the recent developments in the literature on research collaborations, intellectual property rights and spin-offs, those forms of knowledge transfer that are more formalized and have been institutionalized in recent years. The article also addresses the role played by university knowledge transfer organizations in promoting commercialization of research results.

Multinational firms, global value chains and the organization of knowledge transfer

This paper combines insights from different streams of literature to develop a more comprehensive framework for the analysis of knowledge transfer via value chain relationships. We integrate the existing literature in three ways. First, we consider value chain relationships as a multi-facet process of interaction between buyers and suppliers, involving different modes of knowledge transmission and development. Second, we assess whether and to what extent value chain relationships are associated with the presence of multinationals and with their embeddedness in the host economy. Third, we take into account the capabilities of local firms to handle the technology as a factor influencing knowledge transfer through value chain relationships. Using data on 1385 firms active in Thailand in 2001–2003, we apply a multinomial logit model to test how the nature and intensity of multinational presence and the competencies of local firms affect the organization of international knowledge transfer. We find that knowledge intensive relationships, which are characterized by a significant transmission of technical and organizational competencies along the value chains, are positively associated with the presence of global buyers in the local market, with the efforts of MNCs to adapt technology to local contexts, and with the technical capabilities of domestic firms. By contrast, the age of subsidiaries and the share of inputs purchased locally appear to increase the likelihood of value chain relationships with a lower technological profile.

The institutional organisation of knowledge transfer and its implications

How do European universities organise the knowledge transfer (KT) task? We consider the institutional organisation of knowledge transfer as encompassing 1) the knowledge transfer office structure, i.e. the way universities have embedded and organise their KT activities, 2) the focus towards the KT task, linked to the KT strategy, and 3) the KT activities themselves. Four exploratory cases of European universities show various motives to perform the KT task, different KT strategies and distinct interpretations of KT activities. Hence, the knowledge transfer office does not exist: all have hybrid structures. However, this structure depends on the university’s KT strategy. The KT strategy in combination with the KT activities, and not the knowledge transfer office structure as such, is therefore advocated to be the topic of further research.

Knowledge and policy: research and knowledge transfer1

Knowledge transfer (KT) is the emergent ‘third sector’ of higher education activity—alongside research and teaching. Its commercialization origins are evidenced in its concerns to extract maximum value from research, and in the policy push to make research‐based knowledge trapped in disciplinary silos more responsive to the growing information and knowledge needs of various users. In addition KT maps closely against knowledge economy assumptions as effective KT is believed to provide competitive system advantage. Indeed the promotion and organisation of KT may be a key policy development in aligning higher education more closely with the knowledge economy. KT thus raises a great many issues for researchers in the social sciences: this paper considers some of these issues, drawing on recent research on the implementation of KT in universities in Scotland.

Global technology and Knowledge Management: product development in Brazilian car industry

Multinational innovative and Knowledge Management strategies are likely to reflect the interaction of industry-specific technological characteristics, firm-specific advantages, strategies and context-specific factors. Two different types of strategies are discussed: Adaptive knowledge-exploiting activities, mainly oriented to adapt products/processes to the specific features of local markets; and Knowledge-seeking activities, oriented to develop distinctive knowledge assets and technological capabilities. This paper discuss the limits of the knowledge seeking vs. adaptive category, as the empirical evidence suggests that the multinational organisation of knowledge transfer is much more complex. An evolutionary approach is proposed to appreciate the different trajectories of foreign affiliates.

The influence of institutional factors on the technology acquisition performance of high-tech firms: survey results from Germany and Japan

The technology acquisition performance of firms is influenced by a variety of institutional factors which include access to R&D personnel, access to external sources of knowledge (firms and research institutions), the political, legal and administrative environment and the organization of knowledge transfer. A detailed analysis of the influence of these factors on the technology acquisition performance of German and Japanese pharmaceutical and semiconductor business units reveals that it (1) generally varies to a large extent between different factors and (2) also differs between countries and industries to a considerable degree.

Cross‐border post‐acquisition knowledge transfer among construction consultants

Mergers and acquisitions among engineering consulting firms and other professional service organizations occur frequently. International acquisitions should pose challenges because of corporate and national barriers of culture. The purpose here has been to study the relative influences of technical and cultural heterogeneity on knowledge transfer in a post‐merger situation where offices in two countries are involved. In 2001, the UK‐based WSP Group – providing management and consultancy services to the property, land and construction sectors – acquired J&W, a leading engineering consultancy firm in Sweden. Two technical disciplines, rail and contaminated land, were selected for this survey. Four offices, two in each country, participated with eight consultants in each place. The survey shows occasional, two‐way knowledge exchange taking place 16 months after acquisition. Face‐to‐face meetings, e‐mail and technical business gatherings are perceived as the best transfer mechanisms. The presence of knowledgeable customers differs between disciplines and seems to explain differences between transfer patterns. Among metrics for knowledge transfer, the number of international joint projects is assigned the highest rank. Consequences for the choice of organization of knowledge transfer, as well as the measurement and communication of progress in knowledge transfer, are identified.