The Role Of Technology Transfer Offices In Academic Entrepreneurship

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, Technical University of Munich (TIM Lehrstuhl), course: Advanced Seminar Innovation & Entrepreneurship, language: English, abstract: Commercialization of research results within science became more important within the last decades. Especially universities are increasingly challenged to fulfill their third mission of commercialization. Technology transfer from science to industry is broadly based as it ranges from consultancy to the creation of spin-offs, which is the most visible form of technology transfer from science to industry. One opportunity to facilitate technology transfer in terms of spin-off creation is to establish technology transfer offices at research institutions to support scientists in creating spin-offs. Despite the fact, that research has made important contributions regarding the influence of scientist’s individual characteristics on spin-off creation, literature is still lacking regarding the influence of TTOs on scientist’s propensity to create a spin-off. In my work I am trying to provide first insights into the perception of TTOs by scientists and which aspects of consultancy offered by TTOs are of most importance for academic entrepreneurs during the creation of a spin-off.

As state support and federal research funding dwindle, universities are increasingly viewing their intellectual property portfolios as lucrative sources of potential revenue. Nearly all research universities now have a technology transfer office to manage their intellectual property, but many are struggling to navigate this new world of university-industry partnerships. Given the substantial investment in academic research and millions of dollars potentially at stake, identifying best practices in university technology transfer and academic entrepreneurship is of paramount importance. The Chicago Handbook of University Technology Transfer and Academic Entrepreneurship is the first definitive source to synthesize state-of-the-art research in this arena. Edited by three of the foremost experts in the field, the handbook presents evidence from entrepreneurs, administrators, regulators, and professors in numerous disciplines. Together they address the key managerial and policy implications through chapters on how to sustain successful research ventures, ways to stimulate academic entrepreneurship, maintain effective open innovation strategies, and improve the performance of university technology transfer offices. A broad and ambitious work, the handbook offers comprehensive coverage for universities of all types, allowing them to confidently handle technology commercialization and further cultivate innovation.

Academic thought-leaders in the field of technology transfer analyze critically the factors behind success-oriented entrepreneurial start-up cultures on university campuses.

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.

Combining best practices, empirical studies and the authors’ own research on technology transfer offices (TTOs), technology transfer, ecosystems and scientists in the principal investigator role, this book presents a business model framework for TTOs. From a practitioner’s perspective the business model framework captures key elements of TTOs’ strategic and operational activities that are needed for effective management and leadership. Moreover, the frameworkaddresses central issues including strategy, organisational structure, staff and resources, activities, mechanisms, policy and procedures, and evaluation and outcomes, while also consideringcontextual factors that directly and indirectly affectTTOs, namely thecommercialisation culture and ethos,as well as researchers’ commitment, awareness and motivation. For each element of the framework, the book outlines the key success factors and facilitating factors that enable effective technology transfer.

The Effectiveness of University Technology Transfer reviews the numerous studies of the effectiveness of university technology transfer and presents recommendations on how to enhance effectiveness.

Universities have become essential players in the generation of knowledge and innovation. Through the commercialization of technology, they have developed the ability to influence regional economic growth. By examining different commercialization models this book analyses technology transfer at universities as part of a national and regional system. It provides insight as to why certain models work better than others, and reaffirms that technology transfer programs must be linked to their regional and commercial environments. Using a global perspective on technology commercialization, this book divides the discussion between developed and developing counties according to the level of university commercialization capability. Critical cases as well as country reports examine the policies and culture of university involvement in economic development, relationships between university and industry, and the commercialization of technology first developed at universities. In addition, each chapter provides examples from specific universities in each country from a regional, national, and international comparative perspective. This book includes articles by leading practitioners as well as researchers and will be highly relevant to all those with an interest in innovation studies, organizational studies, regional economics, higher education, public policy and business entrepreneurship.

In a world where innovation is considered to be a key driver for a new economy, Higher Education Institutions (HEI) can play a pivotal role. With this understanding, HEI in Latin America, have become significantly more entrepreneurial over the last decades in order to perform their 'third mission' - provide a greater benefit to society. UniTransfer, the project that gives birth to this book, emerges as a response to a better understanding of the nature of knowledge and technology transfer (KTT), presenting interesting alternative approaches to KTT such as; 'Science-to-business marketing', 'Partnering approaches for knowledge transfer' and 'Academic Entrepreneurship'; further it offers tools and proposes actions to implement change from within the structures of HEIs in Central America and Mexico. This publication portrays the projects developed by the participants from UniTransfer - Executive Training Course. Each chapter constitutes an approach and a good practice that can be further consulted by any other academic institution in a similar context striving for change to success. Moreover, the projects developed from each participant illustrate the specific profiles, visions and missions, as well as organisational and governance frameworks that the new leadership in higher education needs to embrace if it ought to fulfil its new entrepreneurial role beyond the traditional boundaries of the HEI. 'The UniTransfer Executive Training Course at Münster University of Applied Sciences, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica and Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, helped me to think in markets and beyond my own institution and role as an academic. The visits to the technology parks and to the transfer agencies in Münster, San José and Pachuca helped me to bring new models to be adapted to our region.' José Luis Antón de la Concha, Vice rector of Research, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, México 'After UniTransfer I realize that university-business linkages can make a great contribution to the development of our countries and societies. Sharing different points of views and experiences has been beneficial for new knowledge acquisition and invaluable friendship from Costa Rica, Mexico, Germany, Spain and Australia. Thank you all!' Marcelino Antonio Castro-Baltodano, Universidad Nacional de Ingeniaría, Nicaragua