Technology Exchange in the Information Age: A Guide to Successful Cooperative R & D Partnerships

Technology Exchange in the Information Age offers advice, guidance, and insight for those considering an industry-government partnership. It includes "best practices" and "lessons learned" drawn from an analysis of successful ventures and distilled from interviews with key practitioners and technology managers.

This new second edition covers important provisions of the recently enacted National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act as well as the development of the World Wide Web as an information resource. The accompanying companion disk contains HTML files with links to the various technology transfer-related sites on the Internet.

Technology Exchange in the Information Age provides an overview of the business environment for partnerships, and candidly captures the perceptions of both government and industry practitioners of technology exchange. It provides a pragmatic look at the cross-cultural concerns and hurdles that must be addressed to successfully negotiate, execute, and harvest cooperative R&D investments.

When I was manager of the Army-wide Technology Transfer Program, I found the First Edition so useful that I gave copies to the technology transfer representatives at each of the 50+ Army Labs. This new edition is timely because of rapid changes in the environment in both government labs and industry, as well as changes in the law and in Administration policy which make cooperation easier.

The authors consider the impact of cultural factors on technical cooperation, and show by example how cultural barriers can be overcome. In this case, the most important cultural factor is the contrast between the very reasons the organizations exist- "mission" vs. "profit". Most government labs are created and funded to achieve a specific "mission" (e.g. develop some type of military system). Diversion of effort from the mission is seen as improper and possibly illegal. In contrast, most industrial companies are created to make a profit for their owners. Undue delay, risk to intellectual property, or other threat to profit is unacceptable. Before these organizations can cooperate effectively, there must be a reasonable prospect of advancing the lab's mission while providing a (present or future) profit to the company. Finding mutually interesting projects and negotiating mutually beneficial agreements requires vision and understanding. The authors point out some of the needs and constraints likely to motivate each party, and provide examples of successful agreements.

Fortunately the law permi! ts arrangements which are much more flexible than those controlling government procurement, and the authors explore these options. The most popular tool, the Cooperative R&D Agreement, is analyzed in great detail.

The authors also address the practical problem of finding potential partners and provide a list and description of several matchmaking organizations, mostly government- funded, which facilitate contact between the parties. In the last few years the World Wide Web has become especially useful for finding partners, and the computer disk included with the book speeds access to the most important sites.

This book is really useful because it combines a broad conceptual understanding with a direct approach to practical problems. It combines the "why" with the "how" in a manner which is rare in any book on any subject.

Cooperative effort offers significant opportunities, but has many pitfalls. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to profit from the opportunities and avoid the pitfalls.


A unique, essential resource for technology exploitation.   April 16, 1998
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This book is about technology application for competitive advantage in the international marketplace. It is a progressive, how-to handbook that leads the reader from the foundations of government-industry differences to the capstone of government-industry cooperation in joint efforts of technology deployment, economic strength, and national security.

The book is a second edition of a previous sell-out success. The new edition arises from the information explosion, and new government policies in the Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995.

The authors discuss the nitty-gritties of core competencies, funding and profit, and intellectual property rights. They address risk, technology cycle time, product versus process orientation, and the Federal Acquisition Regulation culture.

The chapter on "Building Bridges" is especially useful, describing three elements of successful technology exchange: networking, team building, and face-to-face coordination. The text defines "bridging organizations" as those that exist to enable technology exchange. It lists many examples in an appendix and in an enclosed disk file that includes clickable web site addresses.

A key contribution is the careful description of the cooperative research and development agreement (CRDA), which is a powerful, yet complex, mechanism for technology transfer. The book includes a model CRDA that may be used by readers to develop their own working agreements in practice.

The authors discuss measurement, including both activity and process metrics, and offer examples for consideration. They close with a discussion of leadership as an encompassing influence, and present a seven-step prescription for technology transfer success.

This is a book for the real world. Those who battle in the business arena--and seek new means to prevail--should not pass it up.