Title: Linking technology development to commercial applications

Authors: Pao-Long Chang, Chintay Shih, Chiung-Wen Hsu

Addresses: Institute of Management Science, College of Management, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, Republic of China. ' Institute of Management Science, College of Management, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, Republic of China. ' Institute of Management Science, College of Management, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, Republic of China

Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to develop a strategy for linking the technology of research institutes to commercial applications in the industrial sector. The strategy is intended to be applied to the development of an industry. First, an industry is identified for strategic development by the government; next, government-sponsored research institutes develop generic technology for that industry; finally, the institutes transfer the technology to the industrial sector. The planning procedure is as follows: a transfer mechanism is formulated, an industry situation within the transfer mechanism is identified, and a viable strategy is formulated from analysis of the industry situation. In identifying industry situations this paper includes factors such as: research institute R&D, the risks involved in transferring R&D-stage technology to the commercial production stage, and the commercial production capabilities of the industrial sector. In some situations technology transfers are more likely to occur; in these cases, research institutes can adopt transfer strategies, such as joint research projects, technology dissemination, and spinning-off new businesses, to allow technology to meet with commercial application. In other situations, where technology transfers do not occur easily, research institutes can find ways of using government-supported research and development projects to implement development strategies, such as technology development or establishing pilot plants, to stimulate this type of situation to evolve into one where transfers may occur easily. Thus through the use of transfer and development strategies, research institutes can succeed in linking technology to commercial applications. In this way, technology developed by research institutes may be incorporated into the industrial sector under circumstances where the characteristics of the technology and the commercial production capabilities of industry are already fixed. A case study of the Industrial Technology Research Institute|s (ITRI|s) successful development and transfer to commercial application of integrated circuit (IC) technology is used to confirm the feasibility of the transfer mechanism formulated in the paper.

Keywords: technology transfer; technology development; Taiwan; integrated circuits; IC technology; situation analysis; spin-offs; Industrial Technology Research Institute; commercial applications; technology commercialisation; R&D; research and development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.1993.025806

International Journal of Technology Management, 1993 Vol.8 No.6/7/8, pp.697 - 712

Published online: 24 May 2009 *

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