Measuring the Spanish hospital efficiency in scientific production as a knowledge transfer indicator

The knowledge transfer from public research to society has become a strategic and fundamental element in several aspects. The transfer represents a source of funding for research activity, a source of innovation for companies and an economic development source. In addition, it is a fundamental pillar of the objective of building a knowledge-based economy. Technology and knowledge transfer is the third priority line of the Spanish Strategy of Science, Technology and Innovation. Regarding this, the evaluation of the transfer activity is essential to know the current situation and propose improvement actions. In this paper, we propose a model to evaluate the Spanish hospital efficiency in scientific production, a measure that could be used as an indicator of knowledge transfer.