Strategic Management of Technology Transfer - the New Challenge on Campus.

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c65363) has announced the addition of Strategic Management of Technology Transfer - The New Challenge on Campus to their offering

A recent special advertisement supplement on Ireland in Fortune magazine depicted Ireland's progression from 'chronic dependency to technological leadership' (Healy & Buckley, 2005). Ireland, it went on to argue, 'now sets the pace in economic growth for EU newcomers'. In the same week, Friedman (2005) wrote in the New York Times: 'Germany and France will have to face reality: either they become Ireland or they become museums. That is their real choice over the next few years, it's either the leprechaun way or the Louvre'. Thus, for both the traditional economic engines of Europe, and the agile new EU accession states, Ireland's success story is said to be the model to emulate. Yet, while this attention reflects the dramatic transformation in Ireland's economic fortunes, one wonders whether, if Ireland was to ask the mirror on the wall, it would see the reflection it anticipated.

Ireland's traditional basis of competitive advantage has come under increasing threat from low-cost economies. In order to sustain its success, Ireland must turn to the creation and exploitation of knowledge as the major development path of the future. Progress along this path, however, is not unproblematic, as Ireland faces a number of key deficiencies and challenges. Delving deeper than growth in GDP to consider a few key statistics is revealing. In terms of higher education expenditure on R&D in 2000, Ireland ranked 22 out of 26 OECD countries. Ireland's business expenditure on R&D (BERD) is only 85% of the EU average and 66% of the OECD average. Critically, Ireland falls below the EU-15 average on a number of indicators of the science base said to be useful proxies for levels of innovation (for example, scientific publications, patent applications and researchers per '000 labour force). Fortunately, however, policy makers have not remained ignorant of these issues. The National Development Plan, for example, has allocated approximately EU1.1 billion to research, technological development and innovation programs. What is critical is that Ireland develops its innovative capabilities and leverages the commercial potential of its research base. The key issue for Ireland's future competitiveness is the ability to make the rhetoric of the knowledge-based economy a reality for higher education institutions (HEIs) and for business.

These developments set the broad context for the genesis of this book, which was a report commissioned by the Technology Transfer Review Committee at NUI Galway to examine activities, role and mechanisms for technology transfer. The committee believed that the key question facing Irish HEIs was not whether they should improve, develop and maximize the effectiveness of HEI-industry collaboration, but rather how? This set the basis for our research, which we pursued by means of an extensive literature review, an empirical review of best practice and a series of interviews with policy-makers and university administrators. From our experiences researching this book, and in our involvement in other related projects, it is evident that there continues to be a vibrancy, enthusiasm and energy among researchers to continue to push the research frontier, often unheralded in society. Moreover, some of the funded projects currently underway in Irish HEIs have real potential to contribute to Ireland's aspiration to become a leading global knowledge-based economy. This aspiration is attainable, but we have a long way to go if we are to be taken seriously as a knowledge-based economy. Significantly, we would argue that, for HEIs to contribute to this attainable aspiration, they have to engage and mobilise their own institutions, while simultaneously engaging and informing society about their core missions and the value of pursing third-stream activities and disseminating research for the public good.

This book is designed to highlight the issues that are involved in strategically managing technology transfer. In so doing, we appreciate that there is no 'silver bullet' when it comes to developing and exploiting third-stream activities. Instead, we draw on what we term the 'varieties of excellence' evident in best practice institutions. The book explores the structures, activities and mechanisms for technology transfer, while also reviewing conditioning factors that shape the parameters of technology transfer initiatives. These include stimulants and barriers to technology transfer, as well as the difficulties in evaluating technology transfer outcomes. These efforts culminate in the final chapter, which presents a framework to guide the strategic management of technology transfer, ensuring that a necessary balance is reached in third-level institutions between commercialisation activities and more traditional activities of teaching and research dissemination.

Overall, we contend that the creation, exploitation and commercialisation of research are critical if Ireland is to overcome competitive threats and sustain its economic momentum. The tendency to highlight the Irish model as a benchmark for emulation may be somewhat premature. If Ireland really is to be an exemplar of excellence for the rest of Europe, it must believe in, and realise, the words of Juan Enriquez of Harvard University, who wrote at the start of this decade: 'the future belongs to small populations who build empires of the mind'. Ultimately, we hope this text goes someway towards facilitating this objective. At a minimum, it should set the foundation for debate and raise awareness in an area central to maintaining Ireland's successful economic trajectory.

About the Authors

JAMES CUNNINGHAM (BBS, MBS, PhD) is a college lecturer in strategic management in the Department of Management, a research fellow for the Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC) and EMBA Programme Director at National University of Ireland, Galway. Prior to joining NUI Galway, he lectured in the Department of Business Administration at University College Dublin and worked as a strategy consultant. His research interests encompass three areas: strategy practice, strategy and the environment and entrepreneurship and technology transfer. His research has merited national and international distinction. James was awarded the Lord Edward Memorial Bursary to pursue his PhD studies. James won the public sector category of the Irish Case Writing Competition and the European Case Writing Award organised by the European Foundation for Management Development for a case study on the Reform of the Irish Ports. In 2004, he won a case writing competition organised by Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Academy of Management. Based on his PhD research, he won the best paper awards at the British Academy of Management and the Irish Academy of Management and has published his research in a number of leading journals, including Business Strategy Review. In 2005, his co-authored paper, 'In Search of the Strategist', won the best paper award for the Strategy as Practice track at the British Academy of Management held at Oxford University. He co-authored Enterprise in Action, now in its second edition and has completed commissioned reports for Udaras na Gaeltachta, Forfas and ICSTI and CISC. In addition, James has made a number of invited presentations on the subject of technology transfer, intellectual property, entrepreneurship and strategy practice.

BRIAN HARNEY (BA, MBS) has a first class honours BA degree from the University of Dublin, Trinity College and a first class honours MBS (Corporate Strategy & Human Resource Management) from the National University of Ireland, Galway. In 2004, he received the IMI's Sir Charles Harvey Medal as one of the most outstanding graduates of a postgraduate business degree in Ireland. Brian's MBS thesis examined the determinants of HRM in small and medium-sized enterprises. He has presented papers based on this research at national and international conferences, including the Industrial Relations Research Association Conference (2005), and the Irish Academy of Management Conference (2004), where he received a joint best paper award in the HRM track. Brian has published in leading HR journals, including the Human Resource Management Journal and Advances in Industrial & Labor Relations. Brian's other main research interests include strategy as practice, university technology transfer. In 2005, a paper he co-authored, 'In Search of the Strategist', was awarded the best paper in the Strategy as Practice track at the British Academy of Management. He is also co-author of a comprehensive review of university technology transfer, the 'Varieties of Excellence Report', commissioned by CISC, and has a paper based on this work forthcoming in the Irish Journal of Management. Brian lectures in strategy and HRM at NUI Galway, and has work experience in HR and strategy consulting. He is currently pursuing his PhD, funded by a CISC scholarship, at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, where he is also the recipient of a Cambridge European Trust Bursary and is a Fellow of the Cambridge European Society.

Content Outline:

Figures

Tables

About the Authors

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Enterprise Ireland

Foreword by Prof. Roy Green, NUI, Galway

Preface

1 Technology Transfer in Context

2 Organisational Structures for Technology Transfer

3 Technology Transfer Roles, Activities & Responsibilities

4 Mechanisms for Technology Transfer: Patents, Licensing & Company Formation

5 Developing Technology Transfer: Stimulants & Barriers

6 Varieties of Excellence: Best Practice Cases in Technology Transfer

7 A Strategic Approach to Technology Transfer

8 Making Technology Transfer a Reality

Appendices

1 Acronyms & Abbreviations

2 Useful Sources of Information

3 Bibliography

4 Further Reading

Index

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

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