The theme of technology transfer is highly interdisciplinary and has been approached from a variety of perspectives, including business, law, finance, microeconomics, international trade, international political economy, environment, geography, anthropology, education, communication, and labour studies. Although there are numerous frameworks and models put forth to cover different aspects of technology transfer, there are no corresponding overarching theories. However, the literature reveals a large number of pathways through which stakeholders can interact to transfer technologies. They vary depending on sectors, country circumstances and type of technology. Pathways may be different for "close to market" technologies and for technology innovations still in the development phase. The role of stakeholders is dependent on the pathway followed. Common pathways include government assistance programmes, direct purchases, trade, licensing, foreign direct investment, joint ventures, co-operative research arrangements and co-production agreements, education and training, and government direct investment.
While technology transfer processes can be complex and intertwined certain stages can be identified. These may include the identification of needs, choice of technology, assessment of conditions of transfer, agreement and implementation. Evaluation and adjustment to local conditions, and replication are other important stages. In order to evaluate whether technology transfer can be considered effective, different criteria can be applied. The criteria can be grouped into four categories, namely, (1) greenhouse gas (GHG) and environmentally related; (ii) economic and socially related; (iii) administrative, institutional and politically related; and (iv) process-related.
Table TS1 Principal stakeholders and their decisions or policies in technology transfer | ||
STAKEHOLDERS | MOTIVATIONS | DECISIONS OR POLICIES THAT INFLUENCE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER |
Governments
|
Development goals Environment goals Competitive advantage Energy security | Tax policies (including investment tax policy) Import/export
policies Innovation policies Education and capacity building policies Regulations and institutional development Direct credit provision |
Private-sector business
(including producers, users, distributors, and financiers of technology) |
Profits Market share Return on investment |
Technology R&D/commercialisation decisions Marketing decisions Capital investment decisions Skills/capabilities development policies Structure for acquiring outside information Decision to transfer technology Choice of technology transfer pathway Lending/credit policies (producers, financiers) Technology selection (distributors, users) |
Donors
|
Development goals Environmental goals Return on investment |
Project selection and design criteria Investment decisions Technical assistance design and delivery Procurement requirements Conditional reform requirements |
International institutions
|
Development goals Environment goals Policy formulation International dialogue |
Policy and technology focus Selection of participants in forums Choice of modes of information dissemination |
Research/extension
|
Basic knowledge Applied research Teaching Knowledge transfer Perceived credibility |
Research agenda Technology R&D/commercialisation decisions Decision to transfer technology Choice of pathway to transfer technology |
Media/public groups
|
Information distribution Education Collective decisions Collective welfare |
Acceptance of advertising
|
Individual consumers
|
Welfare Utility Expence minimisation |
Purchase decisions Decision to learn more about a technology Selection of learning/information channels Ratings of information credibility by source |
Other reports in this collection |