Evaluation and adoption of university technologies by enterprises

Abstract

The relationships between university and industry have become increasingly important. On the one hand, investment in new technologies, as a response to the rapid and constant changes in the competitive environment, is vital to firms, and on the other hand, the universities have been call upon to have a more intervening stance in the enterprise context, reinforcing their so-called “third mission” in terms of a direct intervention in the economic circuit. Policy directives have led to an almost generalized adoption of specific measures by the part of the higher education sector, including the implementation of organizational structures that deal with technology transfer (technology transfer offices, science parks and start-up incubators near the university premises’), the implementation or reinforcement of new regulatory structures concerning intellectual property (the possibility to protect research findings by university staff through the patent mechanism) and stimulus for greater interaction with society at large (alterations in the requirements for career progression). In this work we propose to look at the perspective of the enterprise, and explore the motives, the mechanisms, and the practice of firms that interact with universities. We privilege an integrated view of the phenomenon, focusing on the process of evaluation and adoption of technologies generated in the universities, and licensed or acquired by firms. Research on this theme is scattered and difficult to integrate, or to extract definite conclusions from it. The main research questions are: what are the main benefits, barriers and outputs perceived by firms in their interaction with universities? what are the main tools, methodologies, criteria, and relative weights with which firm evaluate their investment in new technologies? The research was based on a quantitative approach and on an intentional non-probabilistic sampling strategy. The sample includes thirty three Portuguese firms, from different sectors. The selection criteria was based on the innovative performance of the firm, and on the concomitant presumption that innovative activities are well structured inside the firm. The sample includes micro, small, medium and large firms. A proportion of the sample includes conglomerates, and in fact, the sample represents approximately one hundred and twenty two firms. A quantitative structured questionnaire was the main instrument of data collection, but some interviews with selected firms were also realized, in order to substantiate or consolidate some of the data that was obtained through the questionnaire. In this paper we present the preliminary results of the analysis of that data. One of the main results was the realization that the criteria, tools and methodologies that are adopted by firms are not uniform throughout the process of evaluation and adoption of the technologies. It depends on the stage of the process. Accordingly, we propose a division of the process in specified stages and we identify which criteria, tools and methodologies firms’ values most at each one.