The Role of Technology Maturity Level in the Occurrence of University Technology Transfer

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study aimed at understanding how technology maturity level influences the incidence of university technology transfer to the private sector. The study examined the topic from the perspective of private sector organizations. It used data from a random sample of patent applications filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and a theoretically guided sampling of multiple cases of private sector organizations that contemplated obtaining and assimilating technologies created at universities in the United States. The patent application data were analyzed using nonparametric statistical techniques and the case data were analyzed using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). The findings of the study suggest that the typical maturity level of technologies created at U.S. universities is a TRL-5 or lower on as scale adapted from the NASA technology readiness level (TRL) scale. A technology maturity level of TRL-6 or higher is likely an insufficient but necessary part of at least one unnecessary but sufficient configuration of conditions that tends to result in the occurrence of university technology transfer. However, under certain circumstances, a technology maturity level of at least TRL-6 could be a sufficient but unnecessary condition for the occurrence of university technology transfer. These findings have several important implications. First, they provide support for the notion that university technology transfer is subject to causal complexity. Moreover, it may be possible to increase the incidence of university technology transfer in the United States by implementing public policy and practices that explicitly take technology maturity level into consideration.

A Generalized Technology Readiness Level Scale for Measuring Technology Maturity: Development and Pilot Validation Study

“…Guidance for using the scale to assess the maturity of technologies was incorporated into the Defense Acquisition Guidebook and detailed in the 2003 DoD Technology Readiness Assessment Deskbook (Nolte, 2008;Nolte & Kruse, 2011; Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology, 2003). In the mid-2000s, the European Space Agency (ESA) 1 Although the terms technology transfer and technology commercialization are often used interchangeably, technology commercialization is used to specifically refer to technology transfer that is primarily profit driven (see Townes, 2022). adopted a TRL scale that closely followed the NASA TRL scale (European Association of Research and Technology Organisations, 2014).…”

“…However, there is a measurement problem that is likely impeding progress. Technology, in this context, is broadly defined as culturally influenced information that social actors use to pursue the objectives of their motivations, and which is embodied in such a manner to enable, hinder, or otherwise controls its access and use (Townes, 2022).…”