Factors, Routes, and Existing Theories of Technology Commercialization in University: A Conceptual Framework

Abstract

This research uses systematic literature reviews to explore key influencing factors, routes, and existing theories of technology commercialization in universities. This study found that the technology commercialization mechanism in universities consists of three phases, with licensing and spin-off creation as its channel. Furthermore, the success factors for the commercialization of technology in universities include the academic entrepreneur, the role of technology, the availability of the market, the availability of finance, intermediaries’ support, the role of the collaborative research centre, policy support, and regional infrastructure and environment. Meanwhile, the existing management theories that discuss the topic mostly use a resource perspective such as Resource-Based View (RBV), resource orchestration theory, and dynamic capabilities with universities and spin-offs as units of analysis. This study provides several recommendations for future studies besides providing a conceptual framework. First, it needs to expand the analysis not limited to licensing and spin-off. Second, it is suggested to develop a resource perspective by enriching what dimensions influence technology commercialization success or providing alternative new management theories. Third, using developing countries as context, we can potentially generate new concepts of technology commercialization, both from the route and key success factors.