Capacity Building in Technology Transfer : The European Experience

This book tells the story of capacity building in Europe with respect to technology transfer offices and organizations (TTOs). The traditional underdevelopment of technology markets in Europe has often been explained in terms of lack of capacity and skills among technology transfer professionals, both as individuals and as part of TTOs. Because of the severe consequences for economic development and industrial growth, this situation has been repeatedly addressed by policy makers, until the European Commission, within the framework of Horizon 2020, decided to initiate a pan-European pilot project on capacity building. This book builds on the experience gained through that project and tries to reconnect it with current scholarly works on technology management by focusing on the new methodology developed. In addition, the authors present a series of case studies that may be used as a benchmark and as examples that will help high-potential TTOs to improve their performance. Both practitioners and researchers will benefit from the holistic perspective of the book, which goes beyond the traditional approach and attempts to reconcile the theory and practice of organizing for technology transfer.