TY - JOUR
T1 - Factors Affecting Technology Transfer and Commercialization of University Research in India
T2 - a Cross-sectional Study
AU - Ravi, Ramya
AU - Janodia, Manthan D.
N1 - Funding Information:
Compilation of the activities on patenting (inventions disclosed, patents filed and granted) and research commercialization was undertaken based on self- assessment. The word “declared” is associated with the realistic data provided by the university authorities which is emphasized in the study. The self-assessment of the analysis is shown in Table . Considering the number of patents filed in the past 5 years, there has been consistency in the filing pattern among the public funded universities/institutes, whereas there has been increased awareness in the pattern of filing among private and deemed to be universities. This could be due to the central government funds received by central and state universities. A general trend observed gives a positive correlation between financial support received by the public funded universities from the funding agencies such as Department of Science and Technology (DST) or Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and other government funding agencies under GOI. Similarly, active industrial collaboration among the government aided universities/institutes are relatively high compared with other universities/institutions. On the contrary, less than five technologies are transferred/licensed/sold by the public funded universities that corresponds to a large proportion (75–86%) of public funded universities. The private organizations have higher number of active industrial collaborations yet minimal research commercialization activities. The revenue generated from the knowledge commercialization is comparatively high among the centrally funded universities with limited industrial partnership.
Funding Information:
The past five decades looks progressive in terms of technology evolution in India, including innovation and research. The first scientific policy, enacted in 1958, emphasized on importance of technology in India. India has a history of success stories among a few research and development organizations. One such initiative is from National Chemical Laboratory (NCL innovations)—a chief laboratory of The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) under the central government of India. In its 80 years of existence, NCL has an impressive history of commercializing technology both within India and abroad in collaboration with industry. In 1950s, NCL was successful in launching organic chemicals and manufacturers of dye for the first time. In Green Revolution during 1960s, NCL played a significant role in establishing various agro- chemical based companies. In 1970s after the launch of Patent Act in India, NCL has worked with various pharma companies and developed manufacturing processes for drugs (Nandagopal et al., ). In 1988, the Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), an autonomous body owned by Government of India under Department of Science and Technology, was established to provide financial support for infrastructure and to develop and commercialize technologies under “Home Grown Technology” Scheme (Kumar & Jain, ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/3
Y1 - 2022/3
N2 - In recent years, there is a great emphasis on transferring inventions and technologies originating from academia to industry through technology transfer/licensing or commercialization. The efforts of the Government of India (GOI) aim to create socially useful innovation through university-industry technology transfer. The objective of the study is to examine and understand enabling factors and barriers for technology transfer among Indian universities. The study covers three key aspects: (1) the awareness and practice of patents and research commercialization among Indian academia, (2) comprehending strategies adapted to commercialize research activities, and (3) barriers in university-industry technology transfer (TT). This paper is an attempt to answer the research question whether current dynamics within Indian universities create an environment for enabling knowledge transfer/commercialization and propose plausible suggestions to enable academia-industry technology transfer. A self- assessed structured methodology is contemplated and applied. Convenience sampling methods were adopted. Administrators of 25 universities overseeing research and development activities/patent cell/incubation cell or industrial collaboration of universities were approached to participate in the study. Indian universities are categorized as (i) public funded universities and (ii) private institutes for the purpose of the study. It is interesting to understand that public funded universities have an advantage in terms of receiving funds and licensing the research to potential industrial partners. The authors further conclude that research undertaken in academia is far from the demands of the industry. Even though the relevant supporting system for enhancing university-industry collaboration is in place, such as establishing technology transfer office (TTO) in the university, they hardly channelize the resources for socially useful innovation. It is important for Indian academia to undertake commercially viable research for the benefit of society.
AB - In recent years, there is a great emphasis on transferring inventions and technologies originating from academia to industry through technology transfer/licensing or commercialization. The efforts of the Government of India (GOI) aim to create socially useful innovation through university-industry technology transfer. The objective of the study is to examine and understand enabling factors and barriers for technology transfer among Indian universities. The study covers three key aspects: (1) the awareness and practice of patents and research commercialization among Indian academia, (2) comprehending strategies adapted to commercialize research activities, and (3) barriers in university-industry technology transfer (TT). This paper is an attempt to answer the research question whether current dynamics within Indian universities create an environment for enabling knowledge transfer/commercialization and propose plausible suggestions to enable academia-industry technology transfer. A self- assessed structured methodology is contemplated and applied. Convenience sampling methods were adopted. Administrators of 25 universities overseeing research and development activities/patent cell/incubation cell or industrial collaboration of universities were approached to participate in the study. Indian universities are categorized as (i) public funded universities and (ii) private institutes for the purpose of the study. It is interesting to understand that public funded universities have an advantage in terms of receiving funds and licensing the research to potential industrial partners. The authors further conclude that research undertaken in academia is far from the demands of the industry. Even though the relevant supporting system for enhancing university-industry collaboration is in place, such as establishing technology transfer office (TTO) in the university, they hardly channelize the resources for socially useful innovation. It is important for Indian academia to undertake commercially viable research for the benefit of society.
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U2 - 10.1007/s13132-021-00747-4
DO - 10.1007/s13132-021-00747-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85101498211
SN - 1868-7865
VL - 13
SP - 787
EP - 803
JO - Journal of the Knowledge Economy
JF - Journal of the Knowledge Economy
IS - 1
ER -
