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.

Essays on the impact of technology transfer on economic development - discusses definitional issues, transfer channels and forms, the theoretical background, impact of multinational enterprise research and development activities, licensing as an alternative to foreign investment, related economic integration in Western Europe, impact on economic growth in Japan, transfer between the USA and planned economies, efforts at regulation, costs and benefits, etc. References and statistical tables.

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.

This book provides a pragmatic analytical model grounded on the solid idea that technologies and the accompanying implementation efforts only make sense if they are successfully deployed in markets. The analytical model also provides an exhaustive analysis of all critical variables at the global, regional and national levels, which contribute to failure or success of technology transfer efforts. The model is validated by an incisive analysis of technology transfer experiences of Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan (province of China), and Malaysia. While this book finds that these East Asian countries have had both diverging and converging models, and experiences with technology transfer, the enduring and fundamental aspects of technology transfer in specific industrial sectors and economic growth in these countries is then used to draw lessons for African countries. This book therefore is a timely and compelling piece of research work that provides valuable answers to the increasingly urgent question of how African countries can industrialize through technology transfer to meet their economic development and growth ideals.

Technology transfer has expanded rapidly over the past 20 years in Western Europe, North America and the Pacific Rim. It has been estimated that some 50% of new products and processes will originate outside the primary developer; academic and other research institutions are obvious sources of much of this new technology. In the NATO Co-operating countries, however, technology transfer is in its infancy; it is crucial for wealth creation and improvement in the quality of life that this mechanism is developed. The papers selected for inclusion in this book discuss issues related to the development of technology transfer in NATO Co-operating countries. The book identifies crucial research issues for science and technology policy researchers and, as a conclusion, offers some policy recommendations. The authors are drawn from NATO and Co-operating partner countries, from other parts of the world, and from international organisations. The focus of the book is on the institutional framework of knowledge and technology transfer; intellectual property rights as sources of information and tools for co-operation; international, national and regional aspects of knowledge and technology dissemination and diffusion; and networking. Audience: Academic institutions, research institutes, intellectual property practitioners, science and technology policy makers, technology transfer managers, high-tech industries.