Technology Transfer

Technology transfer is the act of conveying productor process-related “industrial” knowledge from one organization or sub-unit to another. It requires a series of activities and leads to learning by the recipient organization. Transfer is often costly in terms of financial and other resources. The cost is likely to be higher when the knowledge involved is more tacit than codified, where the know-how is less (rather than well) understood by both the transferor and the transferee, and when the transfer occurs between firms rather than between units of a single firm. Between firms, transfer of proprietary know-how is complicated because monitoring is necessary to avoid leakage of technology beyond what is required by the agreements governing the transfer.