Performance of Spanish universities in technology transfer: An empirical analysis

Organizational Factors that Affect the University-Industry Technology Transfer Processes of a Private University

“…UITT is inserted in the context of innovation management at universities, and it is important to analyze the organizational factors that affect its various forms and results (Caldera and Debande, 2010). At institutions that adopt a technology transfer (TT) concept based especially on the commercialization of intangible assets, institutional mechanisms called technology transfer offices (TTO) have been set up to perform the activity.…”

“…The main UITT performance determining factors include the following aspects, which are interconnected: university policies, involving the strategy to foster research and TT, besides clear rules and procedures to disseminate information and advance cultural changes in that regard (Caldera and Debande, 2010;Amadei and Torkomian, 2009); university characteristics, including size, private nature (in the case of the US), research quality, and existence of biomedical and engineering programs (Baldini, 2006;Caldera and Debande, 2010); and intermediaries in this process, including TTOs and technology parks (Guarnica and Torkomian, 2009;Santana and Porto, 2009). …”

“…According to Caldera and Debande (2010), rules addressing conflicts of interest between the faculty's teaching responsibilities and outside activities positively and significantly affect a university's performance in R&D and licensing agreements. In Brazil, there are cases where invention reports take a long time to be submitted, when they are submitted at all, because of the teachers' activity overload associated to the lack of rules in that regard (Santana and Porto, 2009).…”

“…Production of high-level research is influenced by the university's ability to recruit and retain qualified researchers working at the forefront of worldwide science progress, which is essential for innovating thinking (Park and Lee, 2011;Querido, Lage and Vasconcellos, 2011) and requires academic policies designed to achieve this goal. Caldera and Debande (2010) highlight there is a higher number of patent and license registrations to universities that run engineering and biomedical schools. The authors also emphasize researchers respond better to financial incentives and the existence of more effective TTOs in private universities, which is likely due to their business orientation.…”

“…Some of the factors impacting UITT performance include the policies, the institutional characteristics, and the intermediaries involved in managing this process at the universities (Landry et al, 2010;Caldera and Debande, 2010). However, few studies have been carried out on the topic in developing countries (Póvoa, 2008), especially in Brazil, looking into private universities (Closs et al, 2012).…”