Technology Transfer And Us Public Sector Innovation

Technology Transfer and US Public Sector Innovation provides an overview of US technology policies that are the genesis for observed technology transfer activities. By describing the technology transfer process from US federal laboratories and other public sector organizations, this exploration informs the reader in detail of how the transfer process behaves and the social benefits associated with it.

In this insightful book, Albert N. Link offers an incisive explanation as to why the U.S. public sector is involved in technology transfer, and how the institutions that support technology transfer have become a cornerstone of U.S. economic growth and development.

Public sector entrepreneurship refers to innovative public policy initiatives that generate greater economic prosperity. These initiatives can transform a status quo economic environment into one that is more conducive to economic units engaging in creative and innovative activities in the face of uncertainty. Public Sector Entrepreneurship traces the historical development of the concepts of private and public sector entrepreneurship and their connection to the separate notions of risk and uncertainty. Based on a formal conceptualization of these notions, the book illustrates throughout public sector entrepreneurship in practice using examples from U.S. technology and innovation policy. Technology policy-policy to enhance the application of new knowledge, learned through science, to some known problem-and innovation policy-policy to enhance the commercialization of a technology-are quintessential examples of the public sector recognizing and exploiting opportunities to bring about change and efficiency. Using this concept of public sector entrepreneurship as the lens to view the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, the Stevenson-Wydler Act of 1980, the R&E Tax Credit of 1981, Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982, the National Cooperative Research Act of 1984, and the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 affords us the ability to find elements of commonality among these policies and to discuss their impact on the U.S. economy from the perspective of entrepreneurial action.

This book explores major similarities and differences in the structure, conduct, and performance of the national technology transfer systems of Germany and the United States. It maps the technology transfer landscape in each country in detail, uses case studies to examine the dynamics of technology transfer in four major technology areas, and identifies areas and opportunities for further mutual learning between the two national systems.

The topic of this book, the commercialization of public-sector technology, continues to grow in importance in the United States and sirnilarsocieties. The issues involved are relevant to many roles including those of policy makers, managers, patent attorneys, licensing agents, and technical staff members of public technology sources. Institutions increasingly involved in the process include federal and other governmentallaboratories and their related agencies, public universities and their state governments, public and private transfer agents and, of course, all the private recipients of public technology. Scarcely a day goes by without a significant event related to technology transfer and commercialization. The popular business press is regularly carrying articles addressing the issues, explaining new initiatives and describing events of notable success or failure.[l] As an example of current important events, the Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP) is forrnu lating its initiatives totransfer public technology and promote technology-based publiclprivate partnerships as a collaboration between the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Science Foundation (NSF) the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Department of Energy, Defense Programs (DOE/DP).

Sandford Borins addresses the enduring significance of innovation in government as practiced by public servants, analyzed by scholars, discussed by media, documented by awards, and experienced by the public. In The Persistence of Innovation in Government, he maps the changing landscape of American public sector innovation in the twenty-first century, largely by addressing three key questions: • Who innovates? • When, why, and how do they do it? • What are the persistent obstacles and the proven methods for overcoming them? Probing both the process and the content of innovation in the public sector, Borins identifies major shifts and important continuities. His examination of public innovation combines several elements: his analysis of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Innovations in American Government Awards program; significant new research on government performance; and a fresh look at the findings of his earlier, highly praised book Innovating with Integrity: How Local Heroes Are Transforming American Government. He also offers a thematic survey of the field’s burgeoning literature, with a particular focus on international comparison.

Technology transfer—the process of sharing and disseminating knowledge, skills, scientific discoveries, production methods, and other innovations among universities, government agencies, private firms, and other institutions—is one of the major challenges of societies operating in the global economy. This volume offers state-of-the-art insights on the dynamics of technology transfer, emerging from the annual meeting of the Technology Transfer Society in 2011 in Augsburg, Germany. It showcases theoretical and empirical analyses from participants across the technology transfer spectrum, representing academic, educational, policymaking, and commercial perspectives. The volume features case studies of industries and institutions in Europe, the United States, and Australasia, explored through a variety of methodological approaches, and providing unique contributions to our understanding of how and why technology transfer is shaped and affected by different institutional settings, with implications for policy and business decision making.