A typology and evolution of university technology transfer organizations in China

• In Event: Redrawing of Boundaries and Knowledge Flows between Industry and Academia I

Abstract

This paper argues that a lack of comprehensive understanding on existing organizational forms of university-industry technology transfer has become a barrier for both practice and research on technology transfer between university and industry in China. Thus, it attempts to fill the gap by first time providing a systematic view of evolution of university technology transfer organizations (UTTOs) in China since the 1980s with eight types of them identified. The study takes UTTOs of Tsinghua University as an example to illustrate the characteristics of different UTTOs, and the major sources of data for analysis are interviews of staff either working at UTTOs or engaging in technology transfer activities. While typologies of technology transfer organizations in the Western context are used as a benchmark, our study also finds some distinctive models/features of UTTOs in China.

Authors

• Han Zhang, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

• Yuzhuo Cai, School of Management, University of Tampere, Finland

• Zhengfeng Li, Tsinghua University