Knowledge and Technology Transfer in Higher Education and Science: From Transfer Concepts to Transfer Practice

While research and teaching are considered the traditional missions of universities, knowledge transfer as a third mission has become firmly established in recent decades. This has been accompanied by growing expectations and demands placed on universities by stakeholders from policy, industry and society, which in turn lead to increasing pressure and a potential mission overload (cf. Compagnucci / Spigarelli 2020). What are the implications of these developments for the conceptualisation of knowledge transfer in higher education, and how are these put into practice?

This contribution addresses knowledge and technology transfer in higher education and science from two empirical perspectives, examining both the concepts of transfer used in the scientific literature and the transfer practices carried out within higher education institutions.

The first step is to elaborate on the notions of transfer, based on a meta-review of literature reviews on knowledge and technology transfer in higher education. The aim is to develop a conceptual understanding of knowledge transfer in higher education and to empirically demonstrate its evolution over time (cf. Ankrah / AL-Tabbaa 2015).

In a second step, these empirical findings are complemented by the perspective of technology transfer officers at selected German universities, providing further insights into relevant transfer structures and processes. Results are discussed from an institutional perspective within the field of organisational sociology. (cf. Krücken 2003).

Ankrah, Samuel; AL-Tabbaa, Omar (2015): Universites-industry collaboration. A systematic review. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 31 (3), 387–408.

Campagnucci, Lorenzo; Spigarrelli, Francesca (2020): The Third Mission of the university. A systematic literature review on potentials and constraints. Technological Forecasting & Social Change 161 (120284), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120284, 1–30.

Krücken, Georg (2003): Mission impossible? Institutional barriers to the diffusion of the ‚third academic mission‘ at German universities. International Journal Technology Management, 25 (1/2), 18–33.