The economic analysis of University Technology Transfer Offices: a theoretical review and empirical implications

The Triple Helix model postulates that the university research commercialization is an important driver of the regional competitiveness. In this regard, the role of university Technological Transfer Offices (TTOs) is receiving a growing interest by university management and academics. This paper aims to facilitate the communication among both communities by reviewing the contributions made up to now by economists and by analyzing the implications for those running universities and TTOs. For that purpose, we develop a general, simple benchmark that permits analysis of the different contributions made by the economic literature to understanding the TTO’s role. In this sense, we focus on the existence of the TTO, the incentives that scientists require in order to develop embryonic projects, the decision of whether to license or spin-off and the development problems of spin-offs. The main contributions of the existing literature are summarized in several empirical implications, and for each implication the empirical evidence available nowadays is described. Finally, the paper outlines future streams for theoretical and empirical research and general implications for university and TTO managemen