Australian university research commercialisation: perceptions of technology transfer specialists and science and technology academics

Abstract

Australian governments in recent years have invested substantially in innovation and research commercialisation with the aim of enhancing international economic competitiveness, making research findings more readily available to research users, and supporting economic and social development. Although there have been a number of evaluations of Australia's research commercialisation, judgements about the performance of universities are somewhat contradictory and to date there has been little effort to take account of the views of key staff directly involved in research commercialisation processes. Using data from two separate national surveys, this article reports on the perceptions of technology transfer specialists and science and technology academics who hold industry research funding about both the success of university efforts and the effectiveness of government programs.