Technology transfer in practice

Many government and industry leaders now feel that poor transition of technical data and know-how from fundamental and exploratory R&D into commerical utilization is a prime cause of poor research effectiveness. Particularly in the large corporate or Federal laboratory, good research is often “wasted” because no innovation results. Given the current research cost spiral, society can ill afford under-utilized research; in fact, multiple applications on R&D should be the goal. The prime thrust of this paper is that technology is primarily transferred by people, not via organization charts or formal reports.