Comparing technology transfer activities at European and Japanese universities from the perspective of Science-to-Business marketing

In the knowledge-based society, third- (and fourth-)generation universities must play a central role not merely in knowledge production but also in its commercialization. To promote the commercialization of – typically... [ view full abstract ]

In the knowledge-based society, third- (and fourth-)generation universities must play a central role not merely in knowledge production but also in its commercialization. To promote the commercialization of – typically early-stage – technologies produced at universities, institutions have established technology transfer offices (TTO) as a common practice. The condition for a TTO to operate successfully is to know and practically apply marketing knowledge related to the commercialization of technology. Science-to-Business (S2B) marketing serves as a theoretical framework for marketing solutions applicable in the practice of university technology transfer; therefore, this field is also considered as the disciplinary basis of our paper.
In the quantitative research we conducted on a sample of 121 participants, we mainly examined the differences between the practices used by the TTOs. We aimed to reveal how European and Japanese technology transfer practices differ from each other and how these differences affect their success. According to our findings, European TTOs have a more extensive network of academic ties and stronger financial interests, they know the marketable university technologies and services more profoundly, and they have a stronger business orientation. The later two factors also proved to be associated with the TTO’s success.