Report

Building a Foundation for Effective Technology Transfer through Integration with the Research Process: A Primer

“This primer aims to increase the effectiveness of T2 activity in transportation by describing how T2 practices can be successfully integrated into the research process to capture the potential real-world benefits of our community?s research investment. This primer?s agenda can be summarized as follows:
? Purpose: To help the transportation research community facilitate effective technology transfer by providing an overview of the activities that are required to transfer most kinds of research results.
? Audience: Research program directors and others at the executive level in research organizations, research project managers and their supervisors, researchers, and others in the research community.
? Scope: T2 activities centered on a particular R&D project, often defined by a single statement of work or objectives, as opposed to program-level activities that support multiple projects. The emphasis is on applied R&D, though the principles and concepts apply to basic R&D as well.

In pursuing this agenda, the primer draws heavily on three recent Transportation Research Board (TRB) publications:
? Accelerating Implementation of Transportation Research Results, National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 461,
? Guide to Accelerating New Technology Adoption through Directed Technology Transfer, NCHRP Report 768, and
? Transport Research Implementation: Application of Research Outcomes, Summary of the Second EU-U.S. Transportation Research Symposium, TRB Conference Proceedings 51.”

Webinars, Advisory Boards, T2 Implementation Plans, and Other Examples of University Technology Transfer Best Practices

“Technical transfer encompasses many activities but often connotes commercialization and patents. On the other end of the spectrum, university researchers may feel that disseminating their results through a journal paper or at a conference or even just briefly describing their projects in a newsletter means that they have filled their tech transfer duties. Tech transfer may be related to specific projects, a group of projects, or independent of specific projects. Project?related tech transfer often is considered at the end of the project but some activities can and should occur at the beginning or middle of the project. Existing tech transfer literature seems to be limited in value for university research centers trying to share the results of several smaller projects or provide overview knowledge of new topics. The paper draws on a survey from other universities of which tech transfer methods they deploy. The respondents were asked whether their technology transfer efforts are for specific projects, groups of projects or independent of projects and when they deploy project?specific technical transfer (at the beginning, middle, or end of project). In this paper, several technology transfer best practices are shared including tech transfer (T2) implementation plans, use of an advisory board, symposiums, and webinars.

This paper contains an example technology transfer implementation plan form.”

Guide to Accelerating New Technology Adoption through Directed Technology Transfer

NCHRP 768: Guide to Accelerating New Technology Adoption through Directed Technology Transfer presents a framework and guidance on how to use technology transfer to guide and accelerate innovation within a state department of ransportation (DOT) or other such agency. The guidance will be helpful for agency personnel with any level of experience in adoption of new technology. The guide includes illustrative examples of innovations in organization and policy as well as design, materials, and operations.