Financial Impedance Matching Method for Enhancing University-Firm Technology Transfer

Universities and R&D institutions undertake projects to create technological solutions, and at the same time, they teach, produce new knowledge, and learn. Since most universities in the developing world lack industrial production capacities, the technology they create is considered pre-competitive. However, a major goal of technological development is to create products and make them available in the market to different economic sectors in order to help people to solve problems and improve their quality of life. Due to its limitations to accomplish this goal, the university needs to transfer its propriety technology to industrial or entrepreneurial partners. Nevertheless, the definition of technology transfer agreement terms represents a complex communication problem, particularly the appraisal of the value of the technology made by both counterparts. This is partly because current technology valuation methods often disregard the point of view of both counterparts, even though the university’s interests are completely different from the firm’s interests. This paper proposes a technology valuation method using an analogy taken from physical systems, the method of impedance matching in electrical circuits, which intends to engage both parties in a common project with a common aim. The proposed method is tested using a technology transfer contract signed between the Applied Sciences and Technology Institute (UNAM) and a producer of biomedical prostheses.