Assessing University Technology Transfer Efficiency in South Africa: A Maturity Level Approach

Universities are increasingly being viewed by policymakers as engines of innovation through the technology transfer office (TTO). The process of innovation in developing countries, such as South Africa, is different from that of developed countries, with mature technologies often being adopted with limited success in developing countries. South Africa can be regarded as an inefficient innovator according to the Global Innovation Index 2015. In the wake of the IPR-PFRD Act of 2008 TTOs at universities in South Africa have had a reactive rather than a proactive approach to technology transfer. To become a more efficient innovator, South Africa needs to assess and enhance the current efficiencies of its TTOs and universities to activate steps to improve them. Framed in the above premises, this study aims to develop a Maturity Model to assess through non-monetary indicators, the efficiency of technology transfer. The fuzzy AHP is adopted to determine the priorities and weights of the non-monetary indicators, as they are ambiguous. The Maturity Model will be inspired by the Berkley (PM)(2) Model which allows an organization to determine strengths and weaknesses, and to focus on weak practices to achieve higher maturity. The main components of the model will cover the following efficiency areas: IP Strategy and policy; Organization design and structure; Human resource; Technology; Industry links; and Networking. The findings will then inform the design of a customizable solution to barriers to the success of technology transfer and highlight weaknesses within each university or TTOs efficiency which may be improved upon to further aid success. Limitations of the study regard the need to test and apply the Maturity Model in some TTOs in South Africa. Several papers have highlighted the problems that exist with transferring best practice in different countries. The expected contribution of this study is to provide a means by which to overcome these difficulties and to sustain the decision-making process more effectively.