Webinars, Advisory Boards, Technology Transfer Implementation Plans, and Other Examples of Universities' Best Practices in Technology Transfer

Technology transfer encompasses many activities but often connotes commercialization and patents. On the other end of the spectrum, university researchers may feel that disseminating their results in a journal or at a conference or even just briefly describing their projects in a newsletter means that they have fulfilled their technology transfer duties. Technology transfer may be related to specific projects or a group of projects, or it can be independent of specific projects. Project related technology transfer is often considered at the end of a project, but some activities can and should occur at the beginning or middle of a project. Existing literature on technology transfer seems to have limited value for university research centers that are trying to share the results of several small projects or to provide an overview of new topics. This paper drew on a survey of universities in which respondents were asked which technology transfer methods they used. The respondents were asked (a) whether their technology transfer efforts were for specific projects, for groups of projects, or independent of projects and (b) when they deployed project-specific technology transfer (at the beginning, middle, or end of a project). In this paper, several best practices in technology transfer are shared, including technology transfer implementation plans, advisory boards, symposia, and webinars.