Technology Transfer and Public Policy

Why has the United States established a new technology transfer regime, and how does it actually perform? Lee and his contributors see it as a set of new game rules in which government, industry, and the academic community are allowed—authorized, in fact—to interact and collaborate toward the goal of successful technological innovation. Their book—thus far unique in its field—reports on the empirical research that examines how various independent components of the system interact and collaborate. In doing so the authors provide data and information on which policy assumptions are valid and which aren't, which rules are helpful and which are hindrances, and how the various players in this game assess its future. The result is an important contribution to the literature that explores the interface of business, government, and society—essential reading not only for academics, but also for corporate management concerned with business strategy and policy.

Lee and the contributors point out that as technologies grow in complexity, companies often target their internal resources on core competencies and utilize outside sources for supporting knowledge or technology. As universities step into the marketplace, trying to make money through aggressive commercialization of their intellectual property, they face conflict of interest problems within their walls, as well as complex and often unfathomable intellectual property negotiations with the corporations with whom they deal. Their third major point is that with declining R&D budgets but increasingly tough competition, American faculty members are troubled by the collision of two powerful but not necessarily complementary motives: the need for external funding for research and the need to preserve academic freedom and intellectual autonomy. How these issues and problems are dealt with is carefully and readably explored in this volume, which will contribute significantly to the ongoing debate.

YONG S. LEE is Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University. Well known for his contributions to research on science and technology policy and public administration, he is author of many articles, book chapters, and monographs on government-university-industry relations, the dynamics of technological innovation, and new science and public administration. His previous Quorum book is Public Personnel Administration and Constitutional Values (1992).