Technology Transfer and the Tech Broker
What the software community needs is an infrastructure that matches researchers with adopters at a specific point in time and helps them overcome the administrative barriers.
Abstract
Technology transfer is the process of transferring an idea from its originator to someone who can use it. Typically, this implies the transfer of research developed in academia to industry. While there's no dearth of technologies that academic researchers have available and are anxious to transfer, precious little technology transfer involving academia takes place, at least in the software development community. Why don't we see more tech transfer in our field? What the software community needs is an infrastructure that matches researchers with adopters at a specific point in time and helps them overcome the administrative barriers. One example of a successful technology broker is SERC, a two-decade-old consortium of industrial organizations and universities that facilitates the brokering of technology transfer from academia to industry.