Hurdles in University-Industry Technology Transfer: Why Research-Based Inventions are Not Transferred to the Market?
通过对一所意大利顶尖理工大学15项研究发明的案例研究，发现阻碍大学研究成果商业化的三类障碍：制度、人际和文化，其中人际障碍最为关键。
Despite their importance, previous literature on university-industry technology transfer has overlooked identifying the factors and the mechanisms inhibiting the successful commercialization of research-based inventions (RBIs). In this article, we adopt an inductive approach to explore the factors inhibiting the transfer of RBIs developed within universities to the market. We do so by conducting a case study on 15 RBIs developed within a prominent Italian technical university. Our results show that three main classes of inhibitors prevent the commercialization of RBIs: institutional, interpersonal, and cultural. Although all three factors are important in preventing knowledge and technology transfer between universities and their industrial ecosystem, we find out that relational inhibitors are the most prevalent ones, whereas institutional and cultural contribute to reinforcing the effect of relational inhibitors. We discuss how such inhibitors could be tackled by technology transfer ecosystem actors to eliminate obstacles to the transfer of knowledge and technologies from universities to industry; we also discuss the effectiveness of formal policies and instruments in lowering such inhibitors.