By invitation from Charles Wankel, I am opening a topic on the relevance of
technology transfer to management education and development -- that is to
management.
The easiest way to begin is with definitions. These are drawn from my
book, Technology and the Agents of Change. I am speaking to R&D, technical
services, and product developers, all using the shorthand of "R&D".
"Technology transfer is the suite of processes by which ideas, concepts,
prototypes, and technologies are moved to avenues of higher utilization.
Types of tech transfer include:
? Transition: Movement into product development. This is the evolution of
an idea into a product.
? Internal transfer: Movement to direct use in-house. This is delivery of
internally developed systems or equipment to manufacturing, of technical
services to company operations, and of acquired products and systems that
are customized before being applied.
? External transfer: Movement into or out of other organizations. This
includes acquisition of technologies from outside sources, licensing of
technologies out to others, and alliances at many levels, including
cooperative development and industry consortia. (This is what many people
think of when they think of tech transfer)
? Division-to-division transfer: Movement into distinctly separate parts of
the company. This has many of the aspects of external transfer.
? Dissemination: Movement directly to technical communities. In-house
reports deliver technology within the company. Technical papers and
presentations deliver technology into the public domain.
? Marketing: Movement directly to customers. Occasionally, R&D deals
directly with external customers and delivers lab products to them.
Occasionally, R&D markets technologies as if they were commercial products
to attract licensees and development partners.
All technology transfer is ultimately about change. Tech transfer changes
those with needs, those with solutions, the technologies involved, and the
larger communities around each side of each transfer.
Technology transfer delivers created change to new users, new applications,
and new markets, changing the strategies and plans of both sources and
recipients. Technology transfer turns the potential of R&D into the
practicality of available products."
Managers anywhere in the product side of companies are in the business of
technology transfer. Indeed, a collaborator from Lucent and I take the view
that "product development is a linked series of technology transfers". Not
a sequence of events in science and engineering, but S&E performed to enable
movement of technology along the value chain for the benefits of the company
and its customers.
Enough.
Gary
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Dr. Gary Lundquist - The Scientist-Marketer
The Power of Marketing to Change Companies and Change Lives
garyl@market-engineering.com
Market Engineering International
The Bridge Between Science and Marketing
www.market-engineering.com
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