Shiri Breznitz, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Public Policy; Visiting Fellow, Collegio Carlo Alberto

“Hitting the Target: Analyzing Technology Commercialization Factors”

abstract

Local and national governments are putting universities under constant pressure to promote economic growth. Commercialization of technology has been identified as the main mechanism by which universities can do this. The literature on technology transfer by universities focuses on internal and external factors that can positively affect a university’s ability to commercialize technology. Existing studies attempt to find one silver bullet that will work for all universities. However, universities are located in specific geographic environments with their own history, which inevitably affects their ability to commercialize technology. Most studies on commercialization of technology do not take those specific conditions into consideration. This paper takes the view that there is no silver-bullet method suitable for university technology transfer everywhere and therefore adds the important elements of history and environment in analyzing a critical case study of commercialization of technology at one university: the Georgia Institute of Technology We find that to best serve its state as a public university, this relative newcomer to technology commercialization designed and organized its technology transfer activities around its local environment and historical strengths, unlike other universities that tried to follow a general trend in technology commercialization.