The Role of the Firm’s Internal Technical Entrepreneurs in Commercializing Technology from Federal Laboratories

Abstract

This paper describes the role of the corporate internal technical entrepreneur in commercializing technology from federal laboratories. The study of the process of technology transfer from federal labs has been well documented in the literature. Chakrabarti and Rubenstein [4], for example, studied factors which significantly affected the adoption of 45 NASA-disseminated technologies in 68 organizations. Whiteley and Postma [21] studied several federal laboratories and their past and current users and collaborators. They suggested that the main mechanism for interaction between the federal laboratory and industry is at the individual level, between researchers in the interacting organizations. Wolek [22] studied the technology transfer process at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS). He surveyed 54 cases of transfer in over 50 ARS laboratories, and concluded that “the polices, procedures and resources of ARS are not designed to support effective transfer to industry” (p. ii). Allen et al. [1] studied three large national DOE (Department of Energy) laboratories. They concluded that “those inventors who become entrepreneurs in order to commercialize their inventions have different attitudes ex post from those inventors who do not participate in the commercialization of their inventions through the act of entrepreneurship” (p. 12).