Understanding the system dynamics of the university-industry technology transfer process and the potential for adverse policy creep

Numerous investigators have explored the growth and value of the technology transfer process from universities to industry. Regional and national organizations have extolled the virtues of technology transfer and the growth in technology entrepreneurship has been touted as a major contributor to regional economic development. The characteristics and structure of technology transfer organizations and processes has been discussed in literature, but from a policy perspective the effects of technology transfer policy decisions have not been modeled for their impact. This paper provides a systems dynamics approach to modeling the technology transfer process, tuned using data from the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) annual report. The systems dynamics model shows that a pure internal focus of a technology transfer office policy on short term licensing revenue maximization via tough licensing terms will result in a suboptimal revenue position for the university, and that a relaxation of these terms actually leads to a more optimal returns position for the university. This has broad impacts on the technology transfer process, and suggests further modeling scenarios that may introduce secondary dynamics.