A study of university/small business interaction for technology transfer

The objective of the project on which this paper is based was to find effective methods of stimulating technology transfer between academic institutions and small businesses. A major thrust was to find means to reduce existing barriers to useful interaction between these two groups.Small businesses in the Western Pennsylvania region were initially contacted by a questionnaire and a larger sample was approached later by a widely distributed letter to solicit interest. Visits were made to interested businesses to identify problem areas, and these were then transmitted to appropriate resources. Carnegie-Mellon University was originally the prime resource. As the project progressed, a number of other academic institutions were invited and agreed to participate. The case method of data assessment was utilized since the type of information obtained did not lend itself to quantitative analysis.Many contacts occurred between academic and small-business personnel. Two work contracts resulted, both between small businesses and another private firm. Major results included the finding that great differences exist between small-business and academic personnel in perception of problem importance, time required to solve problems, and appropriateness of cost factors. These differences tended to dampen initial enthusiasm and interfered with the development of effective working relationships. Plans to establish consortia of small businesses to seek assistance with common problems at reasonable cost to each member were uniformly rejected by the businesses. They did not wish competitors to gain similar technological advantages.It was originally felt that different sizes and types of academic institutions would show differences in motivation to participate, in particular that smaller colleges or universities would be more active than major research institutions. Such differences were observed at the verbal level, but did not materialize as behavioral manifestations.A major conclusion was that no general system for effective technology transfer exists in the united States with reference to the types of small businesses involved in the study. While many successful formal and informal systems are in operation, some of long duration, the majority of small manufacturing and material producing firms are not involved in or aware of such programs.In addition to often studied economic, technical, and political variables affecting technology transfer, it is suggested that greater research and system design attention be directed toward psychological and sociocultural factors observed as having inhibiting effects. Improved communication and cooperation between small businesses and academic technological resources are likely to occur only through re-education of pertinent attitudes and perceptions of the parties involved.