ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

This paper reports on a specific project, employing new technological capabilities to better transfer expert knowledge. The specific project considered for the paper is the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH), a Multi Organization Enterprise promoting the use of soy and soy products in humanitarian and development aid around the world. VisIT, which stands for Visualization of Information Technology, is a potentially powerful organizational tool. It is compared against the traditional technology in the WISHH setting. An evaluation experiment was conducted with undergraduate students enrolled in agriculture and consumer economics and management courses in January and February 2002. The paper provides the summary results of the effectiveness of the use of that technology to transfer expert knowledge.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

R&D and Technology Transfer: Firm-Level Evidence from Chinese Industry

The capacity of developing economies to narrow the gap in living standards with the OECD nations depends critically on their ability to imitate and innovate new technologies. Toward this end, developing economies have access to three avenues of technological advance: technology transfer, domestic R&D, and foreign direct investment. This paper examines the contributions of each of these avenues, as well as their interactions, to productivity and knowledge production within Chinese industry. Based on a large data set for China’s large and medium-size enterprises, the estimation results show that technology transfer – whether domestic or foreign – affects productivity only through its interactions with in-house R&D. Foreign direct investment does not appear to facilitate the adoption of market-mediated foreign technology transfer. Firms wishing to produce patentable knowledge do not benefit from technology transfer; patentable knowledge is created exclusively through in-house R&D operations.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39968/3/wp582.pd

Knowledge Diffusion, Supplier's Technological Effort and Technology Transfer via Vertical Relationships

This paper studies the effect of knowledge diffusion on the incentives for developed countries(DC)' firms to undertake costly technology transfer to their developing countries(LDC)' suppliers whose cost of production varies inversely with their technological effort. When the incumbent supplier's cost of improving efficiency is high, upstream (or, respectively, downstream) diffusion of knowledge to potential input (final output) producers encourages (discourages) technology transfer as it increases upstream (downstream) competition. However, and in sharp contrast to existing literature, when technological effort is less costly, upstream (downstream) knowledge diffusion discourages (encourages) technology transfer by reducing (increasing) the incumbent supplier's technological effort.technology transfer; technological effort; developing countries; knowledge diffusion; buyer-supplier

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

This paper combines insights from different streams of literature to develop a more comprehensive framework for the analysis of technology 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 degrees 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 organisation of international technology transfer. We find that knowledge intensive relationships, which are characterized by a significant transmission of technology 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. Key words: Global value chain, multinationals, technology transfer, knowledge spilloversGlobal value chain, multinationals, technology transfer, knowledge spillovers

Technology Acquisition among Asian Firms and Technology Clusters in the United States

This paper examines the nature of reverse technology transfer between Asian firms and their subsidiaries in the United States (US). Traditional models of technology transfer suggest that industrializing Asian firms access international technology and knowledge through local spillovers from the activities of foreign firms located in Asia. In this research, we propose a new model of technology development where Asian subsidiaries locate in targeted geographical areas in the US with the objective of acquiring both tacit and codifiable knowledge. Acquisition patterns involve a combination of interactions between suppliers and customers, and, human resource dynamics in the US. Industrial prototypes and knowledge are then transferred back to parent firms in Asia. This pattern of technology development among industrializing Asian firms suggests that a category of subsidiaries is emerging that plays a far more developmental role than the literature currently acknowledges. It also points to shifts in firm strategy in terms of international patterns of technology transfer from learning-by-doing to learning-by-interacting.

Formal and Informal Technology Transfer from Academia to Industry: Complementarity Effects and Innovation Performance

Literature has identified formal and informal channels in university technology transfer. While formal technology transfer typically involves a legal contract on a patent or on collaborative research activities, informal transfer channels refer to personal contacts and hence to the tacit dimension of knowledge transfer. Research is, however, scarce regarding the interaction of formal and informal transfer mechanisms. In this paper, we analyze whether these activities are mutually reinforcing, i.e. complementary. Our analysis is based on a comprehensive dataset of more than 2,000 German manufacturing firms. We perform direct and indirect tests for the complementarity of formal and informal technology transfer. Our results confirm a complementary relationship: using both transfer channels contributes to higher innovation performance. The management of the firm should therefore strive to maintain close informal relationships with universities to realize the full potential of formal technology transfer. --University technology transfer,complementarity,innovation performance

Academic entrepreneurship : a source of competitive advantage

This�report is the result of a cooperation between�EIM,�Erasmus University�and Indiana University. The study has largely been executed by students of�the assocation�'Le Manageur'�under supervision of�the above institutions. The study evaluates university�spin-offs�in the transfer of� technology from universities into society and provides a comparative case study of spin-off� stimulation. The study concludes that governments that would like to tackle�problems in�knowledge transfer between firms and public institutions should�encourage knowledge institutions to adopt a more proactive stance towards commercialization and cooperation. Stimulating an entrepreneurial spirit and knowledge spin-offs in public research and educational institutions�can help overcome many of the problems in knowledge transfer. This research shows that spin-offs�are�a good supplement to existing transfer mechanisms such as�licensing and contract research. University spin-offs�are a good way to transfer�radical and incremental technologies�to society.�This form of technology transfer does require a strong supporting infrastructure and sufficient entrepreneurial human capital.

Innovation and Foreign Technology in Italy,1861-2011

The paper explores the long run evolution of Italy’s performance in technological innovation as a function of international technology transfer, reconstructing the different phases and dimensions of Italian innovative activity, tracking the transfer of foreign technological knowledge through a number of channels, analysing the impact of imported technology. The study is based on a newly constructed dataset, over the 1861-2009 period, composed of variables related to: innovation activity performance; foreign technology transfer; domestic absorptive and innovative capability. The analysis highlights, also by econometric assessment, the significant contribution of foreign technology both to innovation activity results and to productivity growth. Differences across channels of technology transfer and historical phases emerge, also in connection with the evolution of human capital endowment and domestic innovative capacity. Machinery imports contributed positively both to innovation activity and to productivity growth; inward FDI contributed positively to productivity growth, but not to indigenous innovation activity; the accumulation of technical human capital fuelled both. In the long Italian Golden Age, for the first time the association of foreign technological knowledge with indigenous innovation processes strengthened productivity significantly. More recently instead the dismal productivity growth is negatively associated with formalised innovation activity under-performance and reduced imports of disembodied technologyItaly,Technology Transfer,Innovation,Absorptive Capability,Patenting

The Role of mediator organisations in the making of innovation systems in least developed countries. Evidence from Tanzania

This paper examines the linkages and interactive learning processes between foreign and local actors in an innovation system in Tanzania. Specifically, the importance of a mediator organization to absorb and transfer knowledge from the foreign to the local sector is examined. The potential application of emerging knowledge spillovers to wider local users is thus evaluated. Empirical evidence suggests that although the potential exists for the wider application of technology and knowledge spillovers, a number of key constraints partly hinder the achievement of this potential and the proper functioning of an innovation system.Innovation system; Technology and knowledge transfer; Multinational Enterprises (MNEs); Foreign direct investment (FDI); least developed countries (LDCs); intermediate organisation; Tanzania