Technology transfer performance: The impact of entrepreneurial responses to institutional and commercial pressures in United States universities

A study of 77 university technology transfer organizations examined the impact of institutional, commercial, and entrepreneurial factors on technology commercialization performance. Data were collected from surveys of directors of university technology transfer offices; the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) Annual Licensing Surveys; the National Science Foundation; the National Academy of Science; the Carnegie Foundation; Intellectual Property Education Coalition; and Peterson's Guide to Graduate and Professional Programs. Statistical techniques for hypotheses testing included analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation analysis and multiple regression. Research results show that successful university technology transfer offices operate with an entrepreneurial orientation. However, the offices must also attend to demands from both institutional and commercial stakeholders to commercialize technology in their highly institutionalized settings.; High performing technology transfer offices revealed a strong commercial orientation but all offices had similar levels of institutional orientation. Technology transfer offices classified as having a commercial orientation had higher commercial performance (as predicted), and, contrary to predictions, strong institutional performance before controlling for university size. Results also indicate that successful university technology transfer offices attend to both the university's traditional academic (or institutional) demands and to the commercial demands of their environments to move technology from the laboratory to the market. Technology transfer offices operating with mixed institutional and commercial orientations generated more patents, royalties, and licenses than technology transfer offices having only institutional orientations after controlling for university size. The study uncovered entrepreneurial orientation as a significant factor associated with strong university research funding on a per faculty basis and with strong patent performance on a per faculty basis. Thus, independent of university size, entrepreneurial orientation in a technology transfer office contributes to strong performance.