| Technology-based economic development practices of national, state, and local officials have focused on increasing regional competitiveness within the context of the new economy. Prime features of this new economy include: knowledge creation, innovation, and commercialization of new technologies with universities recognized as prime agents for this role. Universities establish Technology Transfer Offices to facilitate the commercialization of their inventions and maximize the benefits of their research. Using the recent advances in the development of regional and metropolitan new economy indexes and data archives of university technology transfer activity, for the first time the direct relationship between technology transfer activity and its impact on the metropolitan new economy can be studied. Technology transfer and metropolitan new economy data for the fifty largest metropolitan areas in the United States plus the remaining metropolitan areas in Florida are used as the population for analysis. A model of the new economy is developed and multivariate test results show that technology transfer activity is indeed positively associated with measures of the metropolitan new economy even when controlled for rival factors. Technology transfer also proved to be the most influential variable than any of the other variables considered. In conclusion, policy implications and recommendations as a result of this analysis are offered. |
