Identifying Critical Factors in Managing University Technology Transfer and Commercialization Units

Given the increasing interest worldwide in the growth of new technology-based companies, the aim of the present paper is to contribute to the future design of patent commercialization and spin-off creation units on behalf of university authorities and national or regional innovation agencies. Our analysis was based on 52 public technology transfer units. Six unit typologies were identified in the analysis. From the results, the proposed recommendations are focused on some critical factors such as a university’s research mass, specialized personnel of the technology transfer units, their profile, expertise and cost, as well as ideas collected from some experts in the field.