Home > Topics > The Public Sector and Entrepreneurship > The Role of Technology Transfer Intermediaries in Commercializing Intellectual Property through Spinouts and Start-ups > Editor's Summary, Implications and Best Practices

What are the forces that discourage or encourage the commercialization of inventions? This chapter points to the barriers created by “cultural” differences between academic institutions and business and contends that these barriers can be overcome by motivated technology transfer intermediaries.

Inventors are usually creative, self-motivated, flexible individuals, but this does not mean that they naturally pursue the commercial potential of their discoveries. Whether or not an inventor ever shows his or her invention to the outside world actually depends on two variables:

1. whether or not he/she wants to disclose it, and
2. whether the environment in which the inventor operates encourages or discourages disclosure.

Much can be done to improve the second variable. If an inventor’s environment promotes creativity and is receptive to invention disclosure, it will not matter as much if an inventor has less self-confidence or is less of a risk-taker. The manager of an institution’s technology transfer effort should make every attempt to create an environment that fosters disclosure.

On the other hand, new companies operate in a very different environment. They generally have no established market position, are trying to convince potential investors that the company will succeed, and are usually understaffed and under-resourced. Such companies are most in need of effective leadership and professional technology transfer intermediaries that have the ability to translate a pioneering invention into a successful product. Such intermediaries should:

• understand the value systems of both cultures
• be fluent in the vocabulary of both cultures, so they can translate while retaining all linguistic nuances, and
• be credible to members of both cultures.

These same qualities are valuable for those who are working to establish partnerships between the public and private sectors of developed and developing countries. Finding, motivating, and retaining such individuals should be an important element of any effort to commercialize intellectual property. A combination of interdisciplinary and cross cultural capabilities can therefore be very effective in catalyzing progress in technology transfer that leads to commercialization so as to benefit the greater public welfare.

Key Implications and Best Practices

Given that IP management is heavily context specific, these Key Implications and Best Practices are intended as starting points to be adapted to specific needs and circumstances.

For Government Policymakers

• To successfully commercialize intellectual property, a country should have a stable economic and institutional environment, sources of investment capital, sources of commercializable intellectual property, a commercial environment that can accept intellectual property and commercialize it, and competent technology transfer intermediaries.
• Technology transfer of any sort is only likely to succeed if there is sustained commitment at the most senior levels of both government and research institutions.

For Senior Management (university president, R&D manager, etc)

• It makes sense to recruit intermediaries from the middle ranks of academia or industry, rather than from the top, as these are the individuals who frequently possess suites of cross-platform skills.
• Intermediaries should be based where they will be most effective. If the goal is to maximize technology transfer from a university, then it is sensible to locate the intermediary in that university, or in the university’s technology transfer company.
• Steps should be taken to insure that intermediaries retain the trust and respect of their colleagues. Rewards should be equitable and avoid conflict of interest issues.
• Technology transfer of any sort is only likely to succeed if there is sustained commitment at the most senior levels of both government and research institutions.

For Scientists

• Scientists in academia and industry are driven by different incentives and therefore have different research cultures. Intermediaries should recognize and manage these effectively.
• Commercial success is more likely if an inventor remains enthusiastically engaged with the project. The inventor does not need to be in charge of the process; indeed, inventors are not usually the best people to implement commercial development plans. However, she should remain an active partner of the plan: not only can she prevent the repetition of unsuccessful experiments (“blind alleys”), but her creativity can be used to solve problems that may arise as commercialization proceeds.

For Technology Transfer Officers

• The closer to the public sector one works, the less appropriate are technology transfer deals motivated only by financial reasons.
• New ventures in developing countries should rely on international investor networks.
• The technology transfer office can function as liaison, that is, as an intermediary between the public sector incubators of creativity and invention and the private sector engines of innovation and commercialization.