Identifying Cost Patterns of Managing Technology Transfer Actions

摘要

Significant national resources are dedicated to research and development (RD) atgovernment laboratories. In an era of increasing deficits and resulting budget reductions, transfer of technology from these laboratories to the private sector is important in order to improve the return on this RD investment, as well as to improve the US industrial technological base, thus enhancing our nation's economic security. However, no accurate measures to evaluate the efficiency of the technology transfer (TT) process exist. Likewise, accurate cost information, affording insight into the cost pattern and allowing more effective resource management, does not exist. This research draws on the principles of activity-based costing in order to develop a collection instrument, quantify the direct cost-over-time, and identify the cost patterns of eight TT projects managed at Wright Laboratory, all employing the cooperative research and development agreement vehicle. Results reveal 80 percent of a technology transfer's total resources were dedicated to the performance of the transfer activity. Additionally, human resources accounted for 80 percent of the total. Expenditures were linear and fairly consistent over the project's life, which begins nearly six months prior to signature and ends more than five months after expiration.