A Case Study of Technology Transfer Process in a Government Research Organization in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the critical elements of a successful technology transfer process of a research organization by exploring the technology transfer process adopted by a leading government research institute in Sri Lanka. A field study based on a structured questionnaire and personal interviews was carried out to collect data. The study identified several factors that hinder a successful technology transfer as well as several facilitating factors. Findings reveal that contract research projects and funded projects have the greatest probability of commercialization success. It exposed that only 37% of the technologies that had received patents have been successful in the commercialization stage raising concerns about the research productivity. It was also found that the personal approach to technology transfer is dominating but dwindling compared with other approaches. Although the overall technology transfer success is about 86%, commercialization success is well below an acceptable level for this organization. Finally, this paper presents recommendations for an effective technology transfer process which can be applied for similar institutes.