University Technology Transfer Offices Research Articles

Organizational structures for external growth of University Technology Transfer Offices: An explorative analysis

Despite the increasing attention to university-industry technology transfer, limited emphasis has been posed on how the university offices in charge of this task organize themselves to grow. University Technology Transfer Offices (UTTOs) can grow internally, e.g. expanding their staff, or externally, e.g. pooling resources among different UTTOs creating new organizational structures. In this paper we study the latter. Exploiting the opportunity of a specific technology transfer policy introduced in Italy, we develop six in-depth case-studies, encompassing twenty UTTOs. We identify three organizational structures that are adopted by UTTOs to achieve external growth. In discussing antecedents, advantages and disadvantages of each organizational structure, we derive implications for UTTOs' managers and policy makers.

Symposium: Entrepreneurship in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors

Symposium: Entrepreneurship in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors

The contribution of university, private and public sector resources to Italian regional innovation system (in)efficiency

This paper investigates the regional innovation system (RIS) efficiency, and its determinants, in Italy through a stochastic frontier analysis and using the concept of a knowledge production function. The contribution of university, private and public sector resources devoted to research and development (RD the evidence also suggests the relevance of the knowledge context in which the firms operate as the existence of an intermediation structure, such as a university technology transfer office, has an important role on the innovation process. State-level policies can be detrimental for overall efficiency, and instead special interventions for regions in the Southern area should be designed.

Identifying the key barriers and their interrelationships impeding the university technology transfer in Taiwan: a multi-stakeholder perspective

In recent decades, universities have been designated the role of generating and disseminating knowledge in an innovation system. Nevertheless, a multitude of barriers exist in the university technology transfer process. Moreover, a limited number of studies have noted that these barriers not only impede university technology transfer but also affect one another. Therefore, this study examines the inter-relationships among these barriers and identifies the key barriers by comparing different perspectives of key stakeholders with the decision making trial and evaluation laboratory method. With Taiwan as the research base, the key stakeholders in this study are university scientists, university technology transfer offices and entrepreneurs. The results indicate that the lack of mutual understanding regarding expectations and working practices is the most prominent barrier, while the rules and regulations imposed by universities or government funding agencies are the barriers with the highest influence on others. Furthermore, policy implications for Taiwan’s university technology transfer are provided.

The Technology Licensing Office as Factor of Success for Spin-off: Case Study of a Research Lab Startup of Korea

The Technology Licensing Office as Factor of Success for Spin-off: Case Study of a Research Lab Startup of Korea

Measuring university technology transfer efficiency: a maturity level approach

Purpose The process of innovation in developing countries is different from that of developed countries, with mature technologies often being adopted with limited success. Universities are increasingly being viewed by policymakers as engines of innovation through the technology transfer office (TTO). However, with the adoption of various new intellectual property right legislation, university TTOs in developing countries have had an inefficient approach to technology transfer. Framed in the above premises, this study aims to develop a Maturity Model to measure, through non-monetary indicators, the efficiency of TTOs. Design/methodology/approach The Maturity Model is inspired by the Berkley (PM)2 Model which allows an organization to determine strengths and weaknesses and to focus on weak practices to achieve higher maturity. Fuzzy analytical hierarchy process is adopted to determine the priorities and weights of the non-monetary indicators because they are ambiguous. Findings The Maturity Model to measure the efficiency of TTO cover the following efficiency areas: intellectual property strategy and policy; organization design and structure; human resource; technology; industry links; and networking. The model provides a theoretical continuum along which the process of maturity can be developed incrementally in TTO from one level to the next, moving from awareness, defined, managed, integrated and sustained stage. Research limitations/implications The Maturity Model needs to be tested and applied in TTOs in developing countries. Practical implications The Maturity Model provides a means to sustain the decision-making process more effectively, especially in those countries considered as an inefficient innovator. Originality/value The findings inform the design of a customizable solution to barriers to the success of technology transfer and highlight weaknesses within each institution or TTOs efficiency.

DETERMINANTS OF FINANCIAL REWARDS FROM INDUSTRY–UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION IN SOUTH KOREA

The external circumstances for universities have been changing rapidly. In order to be competitive, survive and flourish, universities have turned to external sources to generate revenues. The literature refers to this phenomenon as academic capitalism, defined as the involvement of colleges and their faculty in market-like behaviours, which has become a key feature of higher education finances in most countries. As a result, technology transfer, technological commercialisation, and patents via industry–university collaboration represent a source of financial rewards. This paper explores the determinants of financial rewards of universities sourced from academic engagement through industry–university collaboration in South Korea. We have found that technology transfer per employees working at technology licensing offices, participation of engineering faculty, patent approvals, and the number of firms with incubators within universities significantly contributes to university revenues. The following determinants of financial performance are unexpectedly not contributors to revenue: technological commercialisation using technology transfer, distinguished faculty and incentive rules for inventors. In the light of these findings, it appears that an entrepreneurial university program is likely to play a strong role in university finances in Korea.

A trajectory of early-stage spinoff success: the role of knowledge intermediaries within an entrepreneurial university ecosystem

Universities play a well-established role in regional economic growth, one contribution to which is academic entrepreneurship, the establishment and support of faculty and graduate student spinoff companies based on university research. A vibrant literature examines the general contributions of universities within regional innovation ecosystems while another strain of literature examines individual intermediaries, such as technology licensing offices and incubators, in support of the university’s economic development mission. Little research exists, however, that conceptualizes the structure and function of an entrepreneurial university ecosystem. This paper seeks to address this gap in the literature by examining the composition, contributions, and evolution of social networks among faculty and graduate student entrepreneurs and the role of knowledge intermediaries therein. While our investigation supports an emerging literature that finds academic entrepreneurs are typically limited by their own homophilous social networks, we also find that spinoff success relies upon academic and non-academic contacts who connect faculty and students to other social networks important to spinoff success. We investigate how by creating a taxonomy of social network evolution among spinoffs; the results show that the contributions of universities depend on the existence and interrelationship of loosely coordinated, heterogeneous knowledge intermediaries guided by a strong collective ethos to encourage and support academic entrepreneurship.

The evaluation of university inventions: Judging a book by its cover?

This study examines the influence of inventor appearance on how technology licensing officers perceive the commercial potential of new university inventions. An experiment with technology licensing officers at Carnegie I research universities in the United States serves to manipulate inventor appearance in otherwise identical invention disclosures. The experiment reveals that licensing officers perceive inventions by more attractive inventors (inventors with a professional appearance) to have more commercial potential. These findings have several critical implications for university technology commercialization.

A TOP-DOWN AND BOTTOM-UP APPROACH TO IMPROVE REGIONAL INNOVATION ECOSYSTEMS IN PORTUGAL

The objective of this article is to present a successful program that built a National Innovation Network based in the University Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs), incubators and science parks.The University Technology Enterprise Network (UTEN), which was launched in March 2007, includes 15 Portuguese Universities and select international partners in a 5-Year program funded by the Portuguese government. The main objective has been to accelerate the development of a sustainable, globally competitive, professional technology transfer and commercialization network within Portugal to increase Portugal’s international competitiveness in university–based science, and technology transfer and commercialization. We argue that all initiatives taken place in the project have gotten UTEN network presently run in the Open Innovation paradigm fostered mostly by the TTOs and their own networks and officers. Science and technology based entrepreneurship was increasingly seen as a key element of Portugal’s ability to grow and prosper (UTEN, 2012). Research universities had worked to foster a range of technology transfer and commercialization activities and offices, together with industrial liaison programs, mostly devoted to fostering entrepreneurial environments, launching technology based start-ups, and bringing ideas from the laboratory to the market. UTEN was created to synergize this growth and stimulate new competencies in international technology transfer and commercialization to facilitate industry access to leading markets worldwide. In other words, UTEN is the living example of an Innovation network - an Open Innovation Network launched to contribute to build the necessary relationships between all actors, giving them the necessary knowledge to play their roles. This working paper shows the actions taken to construct UTEN and improve the Portuguese Innovation Ecosystem. These actions follows the patterns observed in other studies – essentially those ones from Resende et al, 2013; McAdam et al., 2012; Philpott et al., 2011; Todorovic et al., 2011; Rogers, 2002; Rogers et al., 2001; Rogers et al., 2000 and Gibson and Rogers, 1994.We have collected data that shows the success of the program based on the results of the first five years of the project.

대학의 특허경영전문가 활용에 따른 기술이전성과에 관한 연구

Abstract purpose of this study was to present the future directions for strengthening the TLO(Technology licensing office)s' expertise of universities by examining the impact on utilizing the university management expertsfor patents and technology transfer. To identify the specific effects of dispatching patent management experts, this study was conducted under various conditions, such as the dispatch status, the dispatching duration of patent management experts and the starting year of dispatching them. data were analyzed by utilizing the data of theKIPSI's supporting program of dispatching the patent management expert to universities and the data of UniversityInformation Disclosure site. data from a total of 110 four-year universities from 2008 to 2013 were used. According to the analysis result, the technology transfer's performance and technology transfer's income of universitiesof utilizing the patent management experts compared to universities not utilizing them appeared to be high. Technology transfer and technology transfer income appeared to be higher with a longer period of utilizing the patentmanagement expert at university. This suggests that the direction is required to provide the plan for a longer periodto maximize the effect of the program The dispatching a patent management expert. technology transfer's performance and technology transfer's income did not increase according to the year of dispatched the patent management expert at the university. A comparison of before and after dispatching, the technology transfer performance appeared to be high after dispatch. This suggests that the effects of dispatching the patent management experts at a university can be interpreted as a subsequent effect, rather than an immediate effect. Therefore, it does not simply limit the effectiveness of the dispatch business in the short term, but it needs to activate the technology transfer organization, such as a patent management expert in the long term.

Study for Roles of Major Players in Technology Commercialization Processes and their Case Studies

Technology commercialization network platform includes several major players such as principal investigators, technology licensing offices, accelerators or incubators, innovation capitalist, local governments and they have their own specific roles in enabling or facilitating the transition from embryonic technologies to markets. This study includes case studies involved with major players in technology commercialization processes as well as their roles, and case studies focus on the case of Georgia Institute of Technology and the State of Georgia for a more effective discussion. Particular interests are paid in the information flow between, and the incentives for, each of these network participants.

Technoparks and Technology Transfer Offices as Drivers of an Innovation Economy: Lessons from Istanbul's Innovation Spaces

Universities can significantly contribute to the regional development and innovation capability of a city if the knowledge produced in universities can be appropriately cycled back to the city in the form of technological innovation. Technology parks and technology transfer offices (TTOs), as urban knowledge and innovation spaces, are two important channels of building research platforms with enterprises where universities can disseminate knowledge. While technology parks create space for knowledge generation and innovation within a city, university TTOs play a critical role in enhancing knowledge spillover and creating new start-up firms. This paper highlights the contribution universities can make to Istanbul's potential of becoming an innovative city that houses successful urban knowledge and innovation spaces. By conducting interviews with the managers of technoparks and TTOs in Istanbul, we explore how the existence of technoparks and TTOs within a university affects the success of technology-transfer mechanisms.

An assessment of Canadian university technology transfer offices

Reports from the past decade have reported that Canada is a highly innovative country, but suffers from a bottleneck in technology transfer and commercialisation. In fact, many of the reports give Canada a failing grade when it comes to the commercialisation of innovation technologies. With substantial investments into public sector research, such a problem would reduce the public good from government funding of innovative research. The objective of this article is to assess a Canadian university's technology transfer activities from 1998 to 2008.

University reputation and technology commercialization: evidence from nanoscale science

We study how the scientific reputations and technology transfer policies of universities affect patenting by university researchers, with particular regard to whether they assign patent ownership to their university or to an outside firm. Using data on the career output of over 33,000 researchers in nanosciences, we find a strongly positive relationship of university reputation in nanosciences with the number of university-assigned patents, but almost a negligible association with firm-assignment of patents. University technology transfer office resources are related positively to both types of patents, but with diminishing returns. In contrast, the share of license revenue offered upfront to researchers is positively associated with university-assigned patents, but negatively related to firm-assigned patents. Taken together, our results suggest that universities that streamline their technology transfer efforts and improve their research reputation through support for basic research will see long-term success in technology commercialization.

Inside the university technology transfer office: mission statement analysis

The focus of our paper is to qualitatively explore the mission statements components of university TTOs using Pearce and David’s (Acad Manag Exec 1(2):109–115, 1987) eight components. Mission statements are the organization’s central defining purpose and focus. In essence an organizations’ raison d’etre. Given the growing importance of the role TTOs now play, understanding components of mission statements is timely, particularly during the first phase of TTO developments. To provide insights concerning these issues our study is set in the Republic of Ireland, which has one of the top performing university and public research organization technology transfer system within the European Union. Using Pearce and David (1987) well established eight mission statement components we analyzed seven Irish university TTO mission statements. We also conducted quantitative analysis on the number of mission statement components and selected variables. We found that university TTO mission statements focused primarily on two mission components—target customers and markets and principal services. From our quantitative analysis we found moderate positive correlations between patents granted and number of mission statement components. Furthermore we found there was a positive correlation between grants granted outside of Ireland and the number of mission components. Our results, albeit they are tempered by a small sample of data, have pertinent implications for TTOs.

Can a magic recipe foster university spin-off creation?

This study examines factors that explain the creation of university spin-offs. The study focuses on mechanisms that technology transfer offices (TTOs) and universities employ to foster spin-offs. These mechanisms include technology transfer activities that support spin-offs, normative frameworks, support infrastructures (i.e., business incubators and science parks), and TTO staff's specialist technical skills. The analysis also differentiates between public and private universities. Spin-offs belong to one or more of the following groups: spin-offs with support from the university's TTO, spin-offs operating under a license agreement, and spin-offs in which the TTO or university holds equity. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) of 2011 data from 63 Spanish universities (46 public and 17 private) identifies recipes of antecedent conditions that effectively foster spin-offs. Results show that no unique combination of antecedent conditions yields more university spin-offs than any other does. This finding indicates that several strategies can successfully lead to academic entrepreneurship.

Monitoring the performance of university technology transfer offices: the bias control.

Education is the main activity for universities but the innovations resulting from their research become more and more a prominent and very lucrative business for them. University research and its transfer to industry has been a topic of interest in the management of technology literature over decades and several researchers focused the performances of university TTOs and many metrics have been proposed during last years . The primary role of a TTO is to manage and perform technology transfer activities (AUTM 2004), but how to control and monitoring the performance of university TTOs? In literature there are many studies regarding this theme, but many of these focused on the analysis of the driving forces of TTO performances that may help policy makers and university managers to improve technology transfer process (Hulsbeck et al., 2013), while in this paper, the approach to this theme regards the use of operative tools to control and monitoring the performance of university TTOs. TT managers oriented to use statistical tools, as a control chart, here proposed, to do this, face with an operative problem related the small samples of TT available data that can generate bias of the process only owned to this condition and not as a consequence of a bias really occurred. In this paper, to overcome this problem, opportune graphs and tables, can be used by TT managers, are proposed to determine a reasonable number of subgroups of available TT data, for constructing suitable control limits. Hulsbeck et al., (2013) used the number of invention disclosures as a performance measure, to analyze how variance in performance can be explained by different organizational structures and variables of TTO. In this paper we refer to the same performance measure to be monitored. This proposed model and solution may be appealing to managers and technology transfer agents since the graphs and tables proposed could be reproduced in a number of standard optimization software.

Study for Technology Commercialization Ecosystem Models through Case Studies in the Southern Region of the United States

Many universities, specifically their technology licensing offices, are very active in technology transfer and technology commercialization. In addition to that, part of technology transfers and commercialization are being done by venture capitalists due to complex processes with TLO-mediated commercialization processes. However, it seems that a combined model with these two models can make up for disadvantages from each model to enhance the rate of successful technology transfer or commercialization. Some cases occurred in the southern part of United States will be discussed for these model analysis.

University technology transfer through entrepreneurship: faculty and students in spinoffs

This research informs our understanding of the technology commercialization process in university spinoffs, focusing in particular on student involvement in the early phases of the spinoff development process and on the impact of the larger university ecosystem. Detailed case studies indicate that graduate and post-doctoral students are important participants in university spinoffs. We offer a typology of spinoff development with four pathways, based on the varying roles of faculty, experienced entrepreneurs, PhD/post-doctoral students, and business students. The effects of the larger university ecosystem, beyond the university technology transfer office and the university’s commercialization policies, are also considered, including an examination of programs and practices that may influence this process. We close with a discussion of guidelines for technology transfer and spinoff development at universities, based on the findings of this research.