Commercializing University Innovations: A Sense-Making Perspective to Communicate Between Academics and Industry

Andrews, Kyle, MacIntosh, Robert and Sitko, Rafal (2021) Commercializing University Innovations: A Sense-Making Perspective to Communicate Between Academics and Industry. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. p. 3132798. ISSN 0018-9391 (In Press)

[img]
Preview
Text
Commercializing_University_Innovations_A_Sense-Making_Perspective_to_Communicate_Between_Academics_and_Industry.pdf - Accepted Version

Download (400kB) | Preview
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2021.3132798

Abstract

Technology transfer offices (TTOs) play a key role in helping universities commercialize research and distribute knowledge. Nonetheless, there remains an incomplete understanding of the communication, which takes place between academics, industry partners, and TTO staff. The aim of this article is to examine, with the use of sense-making theory, strategies used by TTO employees as they work with academics and industry partners to commercialize intellectual property. In order to achieve this aim, an ethnographic exploratory case study was undertaken at a university TTO. The collected information then became the basis for qualitative interviews with TTO staff from 13 universities in Scotland. The study contributes to the sense-making theory by explaining how, during the commercialization conversations, TTO employees can deliberately interrupt the sense-making process through “dumbing down.” Our research introduces the TTO employee as a mediator and examines the role of the TTO staff in facilitating the sense-making process. The findings illustrate how someone who is not an expert in the field can add to the sense-making process. The study suggests that TTO employees intentionally engage in a “dumbing down process” to make complicated conversations easy to understand.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding information: This work was supported by a Ph.D. Scholarship from the Heriot-Watt University.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Collaborations in technology management, communication, knowledge management, management of intellectual capital, technology commercialization, technology transfer
Subjects: N100 Business studies
X900 Others in Education
Department: Faculties > Business and Law > Newcastle Business School
Depositing User: John Coen
Date Deposited: 03 Feb 2022 11:21
Last Modified: 03 Feb 2022 11:30
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/48357

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics