Inbound and outbound strategies to overcome technology transfer barriers from university to industry: a compendium for technology transfer offices

This study identifies and discusses strategies for enhancing the efficiency of technology transferring from university to the industrial sector, concerning activities carried out by Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs). The study answers two research questions: (i) What barriers hamper academic research transferring to industry? (ii) What are the inbound and outbound strategies for transferring academic research results to industry? Our findings show that the main barriers that hamper technology transfer are related to organisational, technical, human, and cultural factors comprising the academic and industrial environments. Regarding strategies, our findings reveal a comprehensive list of inbound and outbound strategies that might be implemented to cope with the ambidextrous nature of the TTOs and increase technology transfer. Finally, we discuss our findings and the relationship between the main barriers and the boundary-spanning strategies to support a more effective Technology Transfer process.