How does the Technology Innovation Agency( TIA) evaluate the relationship between universities of technology and SMMEs for technology transfer: a case study of the Technology Stations Programme
Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2016.Increasingly, innovation through technology transfer is seen as a mechanism through which
economic growth can be spurred. The South African National Innovation System (NIS) is built
on this premise, leading to the emergence of Technology Transfer Organizations (TTOs) such as
the Technology Innovation Agency’s (TIA’s) Technology Stations Programme. The Technology
Stations Programme addresses, and attempts to alleviate, the slow overall decline of South
African industrial sectors through innovation work for industrialization. It is not clear, however,
how the TIA monitors and evaluates, and hence measures the economic and socio-economic
outcomes of the Technology Stations Programme. This is because the relationship between the
strategic objectives of the programme, and the performance indicators used for impact
assessment is not clear. This study identifies the use of the Science, Engineering, Technology
and Innovation (SETI) Scorecard of indicators as the framework for performance reporting at the
Technology Stations Programme. The study describes the SETI framework and then evaluates it,
finding that it is not well defined and lacks the properties required of a framework of indicators
to make it an adequate tool for performance reporting. Other problems compromising the
reporting on the Technology Stations Programme have to do with the seemingly incomplete
nature of reports, occasional incoherence and seeming carelessness where there are graphic
errors in the reporting. This inadequate monitoring and evaluation, and performance reporting is
concerning because interview work suggests that the Technology Stations Programme is highly
successful in supporting SMMEs and offering them technology related services that contribute to
industrial policy through innovation work. The failure to have a SETI Scorecard of indicators
that is functional enough to make these outcomes in the Technology Stations Programme visible
in formal reporting is concerning as programme evaluation should make known the effects of
policies. In the case of the Technology Stations Programme these effects are crucial as the
technology transfer taking place in the programme is anticipated to achieve grand objectives in
the way of economic value adding and industrial expansion. This necessitates the need to capture
the outcomes related to these objectives, and make future decisions on the Technology Stations
Programme as well as other technology transfer programmes
