Transferee Characteristics and Successful Level of Knowledge and Technology Transfer: Case Studies in Thailand

Transcription

1 Transferee Characteristics and Successful Level of Knowledge and Technology Transfer: Case Studies in Thailand Santhaya Kittikowit Technopreneurship and Innovation Management Program, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand Pasu Decharin Department of Commerce, Chulalongkorn Business School, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand Surachai Pornpakakul Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand Prachit Hawat Department of Accountancy, Chulalongkorn Business School, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand Abstract This study focuses on knowledge and technology transfer from the Technology Clinic, the partnership between university and government, to grassroots units in Thailand. Since there are very few successful implementation cases of knowledge and technology transfer that can help create the sustainable and self reliance communities. The purpose of this paper is to identify transferee characteristics contributing to each successful level of knowledge and technology transfer. A review of relevant literature, and qualitative research approach were conducted. Findings from 5 outstanding Technology Clinics and 7 transferees confirm that intent to learn, commitment, and leadership are required characteristics for all successful level. Prior knowledge is not necessary in the Assimilation level but is required in the higher level. Curiosity and Risk Taking Propensity are required for higher level of success. Findings from this research will be recommended to the Technology Clinic to assess the potential of the target and enhance the knowledge and technology transfer process. The results from 1

2 this study not only are fruitful for Thailand local community based technology transfer, but also other developing countries as well. Keywords Technology Clinic, Technology Transfer, Thailand, Transferee Characteristics I. INTRODUCTION As we know that universities play an important role for the economic development of a country. Three groups of university and industry linkage activities stated by Brimble and Doner [1], which are (1) training and education related activities; (2) services and consulting activities; and (3) research related 2

3 activities have been recognized as major mechanisms in the country s national innovation system, as well. Most of previous research on collaboration between universities and industrie have focused on services, consulting, and research related activities [2]. Research from universities have been transferred to industries to put into practicevia many channels of university/industry technology transfer (UITT) such as technology brokerage/licensing,direct indirect investments, research consulting, joint or cooperative research projects, and partnership contracts [see, for example, 3, 4 6]. These channels involve payment of fees or investment. Nonetheless, in Thailand, there has been another channel that does not require payment of fees or investment. Such a channel is the partnership between the Ministry of Scienceand Technology (MOST), universities, and educational institutions that resulted in the formation of the Technology Clinic (TC) to transfer knowledge and technology to target groups [7]. The research/technology transfer processes have been done through workshops and trainings conducted by the TC. Target groups of the TC are farmers, producers, entrepreneurs, co ops, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and local communities [7]. Since most of the targets are grassroots units who have substantial influence on local economic growth [7], the improvements on product quality and value generated from the TC usually contribute significantly to the enhancement of the quality of life of the people in the community[7]. The TC provides a variety of services to targetgroups ranging from providing research and development projects and innovation information, fostering awareness and understanding of science and technology, transferring technology through training, creating a group of technology early adopters, extending current knowledge in science and technology, engaging in research and development to resolve specific local problems and increase the value of the One Tambon One Product (OTOP)/SMEs products, and promoting the Thai government s OTOP scheme [7]. Since the formation of the TC in 2001, the TC project currently includes 68 networks and 143 clinics in 2012 [8]. Though research and technology has been transferred to more than 90,000 transferees, some directors of TCs told us that only few of them continue to apply or use the transferred knowledge and technology. Thus, there are very few successful implementation cases of knowledge and technology transfer that can help create the sustainable and self reliance communities. Therefore, we would like to explore the level of success of knowledge and technology transfer from the TC to the target groups. II. DEFINITIONS A. Knowledge and Technology Transfer The study of technology transfer differs substantially from discipline to discipline such as, 3

4 Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, and Management, according to the discipline and the purpose of the research [9]. Ramanathan (1994) cited [10] defines technology transfer as the process of movement of technology from one entity to another. Phillips [11] defines technology transfer as the movements of technology from the laboratory to industry, developed to developingcountries, or from one application to another domain. However, Technology and knowledge transfer are not separable [12], the transfer of products or technology always come with knowledge of its use and application. Thailand s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) [13] also defines technology as: the process of bringing emerging or developingtechnology for a specific objective in one place to use in other places for the same or different objective. The transfer process must compose of know how, show how, and utilization.the transfer process could be classified in three types which are (1) through the acquisition of 4

5 machines or intermediate goods used in the manufacturing process, (2) via the experts as direct transfer, and (3) through technical knowledge or know how that could be in form of Intellectual properties (patent and licensing), joint research, or training.the third type of technology transfer doesn t require the involvement of machines, intermediate goods or the experts; the transferee may further apply or develop the transfer knowledge. Since this study focuses on knowledge and technology transfer from the TC which is a mechanism of MOST, the definition of Technology transfer by MOST will be adopted. B. Transferee Characteristics Many previous studies has recommended Transferee characteristics as important factors affected knowledge transfer [14 15]. The study of Wahab et al. [14] indicates that the technology recipient characteristics composes of Absorptive Capacity, experience, prior knowledge and experience, knowledge relatedness, learning capacity, receptivity, learning intent or objectives, managerial belief rigidity, and recipient collaborativeness, readiness and method comprehensiveness. Wahab et al. [14] also proposes that Absorptive Capacity (ACAP)[16] and Recipient Collaborativeness (RCOL) have a positive relationship with degree of technology transfer. The study of Wang [17] on inward knowledge transfer from MNC parent companies to their subsidiary in China determines transferee s capacity and transferee s intent to acquire knowledge as factors that affecting knowledge acquired by the subsidiary. Since capacity to adopt technology will depend on individual characteristics the transferee characteristics factor in this study will include intent to learn, prior knowledge and experience, and knowledge base. C. Successful Level Effectiveness of technology transfer has been classified in different areas such as political aspect [9], economic development [9], human resources development [9], firm performance [14], and learning success [18]. In this study we would like to measure the effectiveness of knowledge and technology transfer in terms of the transferee success, we, therefore, integrate the concept of Absorptive Capacity [19], which covers the technology acquisition stage through technology exploitation stage, and the learning success [18]. Since this study aims to explore the transferee characteristics that affect each successful level of knowledge and technology transfer in the grassroots units, the successful level in this paper will be classified into three levels as follows: 1) The Assimilative level; the easiest and fastest to achieve, means after acquiring knowledge and technology through the knowledge and technology transfer process, the transferees can reproduce the products or imitate the processes regardless of efficiency. 2) The Adaptive level; means after acquiring knowledge and technology through the 5

6 knowledge and technology transfer process, the transferees are capable to modify products and/or processes. 3) The Innovative level; means after acquiring knowledge and technology through the knowledge and technology transfer process, the transferees can develop new products and/or processes on their own. This is the ultimate goal of knowledge and technology transfer. A number of researchers have focused on technology transfer, technology acquisition, and technology management, in most of developed countries [20]. Besides, most of the studies of technology transfer in Thailand also focused on the content of specific technology [15, 21 22] and in international context [see, for example, 23, 24]. Though the challenges faced by the transfer agents seem to be explicit and repetitive, there were noconcrete studies on specific characteristics of transferee related to the successof knowledge and technology transfer on the local community level. 6

7 This research aims to identify the transferee characteristics contributing to each success level of technology transfer from Technology Clinic to local communities in Thailand. III. METHODOLOGY In this study, qualitative research approach is used to acquire insight of a social phenomenon (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) in Thai local community context which is distinct from those in previous research. We collected data from three methods: in depth interviews, direct observations, and focus group. The primary data source was in depth interviews. We conducted semi structured interviews with five directors from five outstanding TCs from each region of Thailand (one from the northern region, one from the northeastern region, two from the central region, and one from the southern region). The list of the outstanding TC was provided by the director of Chulalongkorn University stc, who was the first interviewee and has been involved in this partnership since the beginning. We also interviewed seven transferees from three outstanding TCs, one from the northern region, one from the northeastern region, four from the central region, and one from the southern region. Snowball sampling approach was used to find these transferees. The list of the transferee was provided by each outstanding TC. Our interview with the directors and the transferee lasted an average of 0.5 hour to 2 hours. Personal observation of workshop and training and tours of the site visited also provided insight into our research question. A. Data Analysis We follow the steps recommend by Yin [25] in our analysis. The first step was presenting and organizing the data. All the interview digital recording were transcribed and write ups done. For non recording interview, write ups were based on detailed interview notes. The second step was to code all the data into a number of categories according to the predicted factors. These categories are characteristics of the transferee which are intent to learn, prior knowledge and experience, and knowledge base. The third step was searching for cross case patterns. IV. FINDINGS The study confirms that the required characteristics of transferee for each level are intent to learn, commitment, and leadership. Intent to learn factor is related to economic needs. Commitment and Leadership are the main factors contributing to the success of knowledge and technology transfer from Clinic Technology to local communities in Thailand in every level. Prior knowledge is not necessary in the Assimilation level but is required in the higher level. Curiosity and Risk Taking Propensity are required for higher level of success. Characteristics of Transferee related to the level of success can be summarized as follows: 7

8 V. CONCLUSION The purpose of this paper is to identify transferee characteristics of local communities contributing to each successful level of knowledge and technology transfer from the Technology Clinic. The findings confirm that intent to learn, commitment, and leadership are required characteristics for all success level. Prior knowledge is not necessary in the Assimilation level but is required in the higher level.curiosity and Risk Taking Propensity are required for higher level of success. Findings from this research will be used as recommendations for the policy maker and the Technology Clinic to assess the potential of the target and enhance the knowledge and technology transfer process led to higher successful rate.however, the results from this research could be applied not only for Thailand local community based technology transfer, but also other developing countries as well. REFERENCES [1] P. Brimble and R. F. Doner, "University Industry Linkages and Economic Development: The Case of Thailand," World Development, vol. 35, pp , [2] S. Numprasertchai and B. Igel, "Managing knowledge through collaboration: multiple case studies of managing research in university laboratories in Thailand," Technovation, vol. 25, pp , [3] F. Pries and P. Guild, "Commercial exploitation of new technologies arising from university research: start ups and markets for technology," R&D Management, vol. 37, pp , [4] C. M. Leitch and R. T. Harrison, "Maximising the potential of university [5] S. Davenport, et al., "Leveraging talent: spin off strategy at Industrial Research," R&D Management, vol. 32, pp , [6] D. Jones Evans, et al., "Creating a bridge between university and industry in small European countries: the role of the Industrial Liaison Office," R&D Management, vol. 29, pp , [7] MOST. (2010, January 15). MOST s Distinctive Work: The Technology Clinic Project. Available: [8] MOST. (2010, January 15) Available: ontact_anonymous.asp [9] B. Bozeman, "Technology transfer and public policy: a review of research and theory," Research Policy, vol. 29, pp , [10] K. Ramanathan, et al., Technology transfer and small & medium enterprises in developing countries. New Delhi: Daya Pub. House, [11] R. G. Phillips, "Technology business incubators: how effective as technology transfer mechanisms?," Technology in Society, vol. 24, pp , [12] D. Sahal, "Alternative conceptions of technology," Research Policy, vol. 10, p. 22, [13] K. Udomwitit. (2009, March 10). กำรถำยทอด เทคโนโลย (Technology Transfer). Available: technology transfer. spin outs: the development of second 8

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11 Level of Success Assimilativ e Required Characteristics Intent to learn Commitment Number of Transferee s 3 Leadership Adaptive Intent to learn 2 Commitment Leadership Curiosity Having Knowled ge Based Innovative Intent to learn 2 Commitment Leadership Curiosity Like Challenge Risk 11

12 Taking Propensi ty Having Legacy Indigenous Knowledge 12