What works in university technology transfer?
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have released a new study (PDF) that provides some insight.
The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship (NDE) describes the report in its latest weekly news update.
According to NDE's summary, the Rensselaer researchers found that the university commercialization process is slow, bureaucratic and expensive. The researchers, Phillip Phan and Donald Siegel, recommend that university administrators take a value chain approach to their technology commercialization efforts.
First, universities must continue to invest in the process’ major inputs—research. Then, they must clearly establish priorities in terms of desired outcomes and in terms of areas of research emphasis. Finally, they must create incentives for commercialization.