A framework for technology transfer potential assessment

摘要

This paper is motivated by a need to move research into application, specifically in the utility industry. There are many challenges facing the industry: an aging infrastructure, a growing population, and aggressive energy efficiency targets are just a few examples. Many technologies exist or are in development but the rate at which they are being adopted is slow. Despite a clear need to apply research results to the utility industry, a cursory review of how research proposals are evaluated within the utility industry confirms that technology transfer is only peripherally addressed. In addition, there is no mechanism to quantitatively assess the technology transfer potential of a research proposal. The goal of this paper is to develop an assessment model that can be used to identify the technology transfer potential of a research proposal. By doing so, an organization can select the proposals whose research outcomes are more likely to move into application.