Towards a novel technology transfer office typology and recommendations for developing countries

Potentially, technology transfer offices (TTOs) can play a significant role in facilitating the successful transfer of technologies and knowledge between universities and industry. Many developing countries are currently developing technology transfer practices within their universities. However, many developing country TTOs operate inefficiently or are ineffective. The sharing of experiences can lead to improvements in this endeavour. Advanced nations can serve as a frame of reference and a basis of policy recommendations for developing countries due to the longevity of their technology transfer activities. The authors issued 234 questionnaires to European university TTOs, of which 54 usable questionnaires were returned. They combine the data from these questionnaires with 19 interviews conducted with university TTO staff from 9 countries in an attempt to create a typology of practices that developing nations could emulate to improve technology transfer in their own contexts. While ultimately a clear typology was not forthcoming, the authors found some relationship between the dominant focus in the mission statement of developed country TTOs, the activities they undertake, their position in the university governance structure and their level of maturity which may usefully inform the development of TTO practices in developing countries.</p

Increasing University Entrepreneurialism:Qualitative Insights from the Technology Transfer Office

none4siPurpose – Successful promotion of academic entrepreneurship is a determining factor in the pursuit of university entrepreneurialism. This paper aims to illustrate how qualitative data on the performance of the technology transfer office (TTO), based on access to intellectual capital (IC) indicators, can be transformed into a metric to provide insights that assist in strategy development for a university moving towards amore entrepreneurial configuration. Design/methodology/approach – The TTO performance metric takes the form of a self-assessment of access to IC indicators, which are determinants of effectiveness. This study involves the use of the metric through the completion of an online survey and follow-up interviews, to collect and analyse the data. Findings – The performance of 34 TTOs in continental Europe and the UK are measured, and insights into the success of promoting academic entrepreneurship were gained. The qualitative data are studied in detail to illustrate how the university can strategically leverage IC to enhance academic entrepreneurship. Research limitations/implications – This study recommends that the university align the mission statement and organisational structure of the TTO, to enable access to IC. This, in turn, may result in increased academic entrepreneurship activities, which will drive the university towards increased entrepreneurialism. Practical implications – The interpretation of the qualitative data relating to the performance of the TTO, and which factors influence it, aids in understanding the performance of the entrepreneurial university and illustrates, which strategic interventions can be made. Originality/value – Understanding the link between IC, academic entrepreneurship (as encapsulated in the performance of the TTO) and the characteristics of the entrepreneurial university is particularly useful for university management decisions. Keywords Performance measurement, Academic entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial university, Intellectual capital, Technology transfer officerestrictedGiustina Secundo; christle de beer; Felicia M. Fai; Cornelius S.L. SchutteSecundo, Giustina; de beer, Christle; Fai, Felicia M.; Schutte, Cornelius S. L

Towards a novel technology transfer office typology and recommendations for developing countries

Potentially, technology transfer offices (TTOs) can play a significant role in facilitating the successful transfer of technologies and knowledge between universities and industry. Many developing countries are currently developing technology transfer practices within their universities. However, many developing country TTOs operate inefficiently or are ineffective. The sharing of experiences can lead to improvements in this endeavour. Advanced nations can serve as a frame of reference and a basis of policy recommendations for developing countries due to the longevity of their technology transfer activities. The authors issued 234 questionnaires to European university TTOs, of which 54 usable questionnaires were returned. They combine the data from these questionnaires with 19 interviews conducted with university TTO staff from 9 countries in an attempt to create a typology of practices that developing nations could emulate to improve technology transfer in their own contexts. While ultimately a clear typology was not forthcoming, the authors found some relationship between the dominant focus in the mission statement of developed country TTOs, the activities they undertake, their position in the university governance structure and their level of maturity which may usefully inform the development of TTO practices in developing countries.</p

Increasing University Entrepreneurialism:Qualitative Insights from the Technology Transfer Office

Purpose: Successful promotion of academic entrepreneurship is a determining factor in the pursuit of university entrepreneurialism. This paper aims to illustrate how qualitative data on the performance of the technology transfer office (TTO), based on access to intellectual capital (IC) indicators, can be transformed into a metric to provide insights that assist in strategy development for a university moving towards a more entrepreneurial configuration. Design/methodology/approach: The TTO performance metric takes the form of a self-assessment of access to IC indicators, which are determinants of effectiveness. This study involves the use of the metric through the completion of an online survey and follow-up interviews, to collect and analyse the data. Findings: The performance of 34 TTOs in continental Europe and the UK are measured, and insights into the success of promoting academic entrepreneurship were gained. The qualitative data are studied in detail to illustrate how the university can strategically leverage IC to enhance academic entrepreneurship. Research limitations/implications: This study recommends that the university align the mission statement and organisational structure of the TTO, to enable access to IC. This, in turn, may result in increased academic entrepreneurship activities, which will drive the university towards increased entrepreneurialism. Practical implications: The interpretation of the qualitative data relating to the performance of the TTO, and which factors influence it, aids in understanding the performance of the entrepreneurial university and illustrates, which strategic interventions can be made. Originality/value: Understanding the link between IC, academic entrepreneurship (as encapsulated in the performance of the TTO) and the characteristics of the entrepreneurial university is particularly useful for university management decisions.</p

Alignment of a functional innovation strategy

The original publication is available at http://www.isem.org.za/index.php/isem/isem2011.Conference of the ISEM 2011 Proceedings, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 21 - 23 September 2011.Conference theme - Innovative Systems Thinking: Unravelling Complexity for Successful Solutions.For a strategy to be successful it first needs to be the correct strategy then it needs to be aligned with the business values, structures, capabilities and other strategies and finally it needs to be executed [1]. This paper focuses, specifically, on the alignment of a company’s functional innovation strategy. The connection between the different levels of innovation strategy and other business strategies are developed and explained. A range of different business strategy classifications are presented from the literature and a golden thread of alignment is sewn from a company’s grand, strategic perspective down to its functional strategies. A theoretical framework is presented, which contains the strength of the relationships between different generic strategic perspectives and the components of a functional innovation strategy. The end result of this paper is a suggested decision framework which a company can use to align its functional innovation strategy with its strategic perspective, which in turn should be aligned with the company’s mission and vision. This will enable the company to assign the correct resources to its innovation activities so that innovation enables it to achieve its overall objectives. The decision framework is tested in theory by focusing on the insurance industry and understanding the interaction between the strategic perspectives of a company and that company’s focus on innovation. Evidence is gathered to support assumptions about the company’s innovation focus.The Industrial, Systems and Engineering Management (ISEM) conference is a joint initiative between the Southern African Institute for Industrial Engineering (SAIIE), INCOSE (South Africa) and the Graduate School for Technology Management at the University of PretoriaPublishers' Versio