Study Purposes & Goals
Our effort sought to identify best practices and programs supported by the participating institutions in an effort to improve efforts to identify faculty to target and improve strategies/approaches to educate and recruit them to engage in technology transfer, entrepreneurship and commercialization. The results presented here identify what motivates faculty to participate in entrepreneurial and Commercialization Activities, how best to communicate with them, and what to communicate to them. These findings along with consideration of programmatic best practices provide institutions with a set of action-ready recommendations to consider at their institutions.
What We Did
Our work supported four levels of investigation. First, we compiled and assessed background information and details about the technology transfer and support structure at the nine Midwestern universities who agreed to participate in the study. Second, we individually interviewed representatives from each institution to gain additional insights into programs, faculty identification and recruitment strategies, and communications strategies and tactics. Following these interviews, a group gathering of all institutions was held via Zoom to brief the findings and engage critical feedback. Third, we interviewed 37 faculty drawn from the nine institutions and asked them to recount their motivations for pursuing commercialization, how they first become exposed to support structures, and their observations on the communications toolset and approaches used by those support organizations. Fourth, institutional representatives from Step 2 responded to the results of the faculty interviews and discussed how those results can lead to changes in communications strategies or tactics and influence programming choices.
Outcomes
The outcome of the work is:
1. Perspective on the diverse array of programs and activities used by participating institutions to support Commercialization Activities.
2. Better understanding of the strengths and limitations of the communications strategies and tactics employed by Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) and related commercialization offices to raise awareness of their programs, support structures and opportunities to assist; and
3. Recognition of the faculty perspective on both #1 and #2 and how they see the usefulness of the programs/support structures and their perceptions of the effectiveness of the communications strategies.
4. Identify any gender-based differences in faculty interest or participation in Commercialization Activities and in recommendations to encourage others to engage.
Output
The report presents the key observations drawn from the programmatic assessments and interviews with faculty and staff. These are incorporated into recommendations concerning communications messaging and tactics (what to convey and how to convey it) and a series of activities that can be used to expand or refine and institution’s recruiting and awareness-building goals. Access the complete report.