Creating a university technology commercialisation programme: confronting conflicts between learning, discovery and commercialisation goals
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Authors
Aten, Kathryn
Meyer, Alan D.
Krause, Alan J.
Metzger, Matthew L.
Holloway, Samuel S.
Subjects
university technology commercialisation
technology transfer
multidisciplinary education
university spinouts
regional economic development
technology transfer
multidisciplinary education
university spinouts
regional economic development
Advisors
Date of Issue
2011
Date
2011
Publisher
Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Language
Abstract
Our knowledge-based society is pressing universities to transform
from monastic scholarly enclaves into producers of new technologies and
incubators of start-up firms. However, converting scientists’ curiosity-driven
discoveries into commercially viable innovations has proven so difficult that
observers liken the journey to crossing a ‘Valley of Death’. We conceptualise
the challenges of commercialising university inventions in terms of three gaps:
the technology discovery gap, the commercialisation gap, and the venture
launch gap. We chronicle the inception and evolution of a technology
commercialisation programme at the University of Oregon, relating how the
university confronted and dealt with the three gaps, and describing the
intra-organisational partnerships developed to address them. We find that
negotiating the gaps requires assimilation of a technology commercialisation
mission into the traditional academic missions of education and scientific
discovery. To do this, universities must confront fundamental contradictions
between learning, discovery, and commercialisation.
Type
Article
Description
Author Kathryn Aten wrote this paper when affiliated with the Naval Postgraduate School.
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
National Science Foundation’s Partnerships for Innovation Program
Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute
University of Oregon’s Vice President for Research
Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship
Center for Law and Entrepreneurship
deans of the UO business and law schools
Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute
University of Oregon’s Vice President for Research
Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship
Center for Law and Entrepreneurship
deans of the UO business and law schools
Funder
Format
20 p.
Citation
Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Vol. 13, No. 2, (2011), p. 179-198
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.