National Academies Press: OpenBook
« Previous: Part II: Technology Transfer in the United States
Suggested Citation:"Introduction." National Academy of Engineering. 1997. Technology Transfer Systems in the United States and Germany: Lessons and Perspectives. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5271.
×
Page 62

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

62 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER SYSTEMS IN THE UNITED STATES AND GERMANY INTRODUCTION The collective capacity of the United States to deploy technology and techni- cal know-how constitutes the nation’s technology transfer enterprise. The enter- prise involves all of the individuals, public- and private-sector institutions, and other resources (financial and physical capital) involved in the movement of tech- nology within and among organizations operating in the United States. As in other market economies, most of the resources and operational intelligence of this enterprise resides in private companies and is organized and driven by the logic of markets. In 1995, industry performed over 70 percent of all U.S. R&D and employed more than 90 percent of all U.S. scientists and engineers. Simi- larly, the volume of technology transfer that takes place within and between pri- vate firms dwarfs that which takes place between industry and all other sectors of the R&D enterprise combined.1 Indeed, the annual patent royalty income of just one large U.S. high-tech company such as IBM is greater than that of all nonin- dustrial sectors together. Nevertheless, the structure, goals, and performance of the U.S. technology enterprise are profoundly shaped by the contributions of a spectrum of nonindustrial R&D performers that are not themselves directly en- gaged in the commercialization of technology. The specific focus of this report is on the institutions and mechanisms in- volved in the transfer of technology from nonindustrial R&D performers to pri- vate firms, which then use this technology to create new products and services. These institutions include nonindustrial R&D performers: universities and affili- ated institutions, federal laboratories, and an array of public, private, and mixed (public/private) contract R&D institutes and consortia. Also implicated are a diverse group of organizations that perform little, if any, R&D of their own, yet play an important role facilitating technology transfer between the nonindustrial R&D performers and private industry. THE R&D ENTERPRISE A major distinguishing feature of the U.S. R&D enterprise is its colossal size. In 1994, the United States spent roughly $169 billion, or 2.5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), on research and development. Calculated in con- stant 1987 dollars, this sum equaled the combined R&D expenditures of Japan, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom (Figure 2.1). As of 1993, there were roughly 963,000 scientists and engineers engaged in R&D work in roughly 41,000 U.S.-based companies, 720 federal laboratories, 875 colleges and universities, and upwards of 2,300 other nonprofit R&D-performing organizations (e.g., re- search institutes, hospitals, consortia, etc.) (National Science Board, 1996; Na- tional Science Foundation, 1996c). As a percentage of GDP, R&D spending in the United States compared fa- vorably with that of most of its major trading partners in 1994 (Figure 2.2). How-

Next: The R&D Enterprise »
Technology Transfer Systems in the United States and Germany: Lessons and Perspectives Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $80.00 Buy Ebook | $64.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

This book explores major similarities and differences in the structure, conduct, and performance of the national technology transfer systems of Germany and the United States. It maps the technology transfer landscape in each country in detail, uses case studies to examine the dynamics of technology transfer in four major technology areas, and identifies areas and opportunities for further mutual learning between the two national systems.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!