Technology transfer: 5 lessons learned (from a software engineer’s perspective)
Recently, I was planning a talk to international management students on the topic of technology transfer. During the preparation, I gathered my thoughts and experiences in this field and identified five key lessons for successful technology transfer.
A brief introduction to technology transfer
To start with, let me quickly introduce the topic: Technology transfer is the process of transferring technology from the places and ingroups of its origination to wider distribution among more people and places. Let’s take technology transfer in higher education institutions as an example: Many universities have established formal offices and processes for identifying promising discoveries, which allow them to distribute the information gained both internally and externally to a wider audience. In this case, technology transfer means the process of bringing knowledge from academia to the market, e.g., in the form of products and services.
As a basis for further discussion, here are some of my initial thoughts and learnings about technology transfer. Of course, this is a subjective contribution and by no means complete, but I’d like to share my experiences with you today and will be happy to see my points as a basis for further discussion.
Lesson 1: Thinking ideas through across different domains is fundamental
Experts are strong in their specific fields of knowledge. With this in mind, great value is often created by combining expertise from different domains and across organizational units. Software engineers, for example, are highly trained specifically in the fields of abstraction, system decomposition and problem-solving in order to find adequate solutions quickly. However, on the flipside, complimentary business aspects such as time-to-market, advertising, sales, and overall business value are often neglected.
I have learned that it is equally important to understand both business and technology. There is an interplay between technology and business decisions, and it is paramount to understand the interdependence of the two spheres. Yet, the required skill set is hard to teach. Moreover, broad topics like artificial intelligence should be understood at manager-level, both in terms of knowledge of application fields, and the ability to convey knowledge about complex subjects.
Lesson 2: The role of an innovation manager is vague and challenging
Innovation is complex and comprehensive. It requires a wide range of functions and skills in order to develop a new product or service from the initial idea of positioning it successfully on the market. Many companies hire innovation managers to implement changes of great magnitude, as this can make them more agile and efficient. However, it is unrealistic to think that a new culture can simply be implemented without upsetting the apple cart. This can be a long and sometimes challenging process.
Therefore, the role of an innovation manager is not an easy one. It is less defined than traditional management roles, and this creates its own challenges. Success in this role requires a very open mind and an ability to think beyond current users’ needs by considering those of both current and future customers. Part of this process involves managing the idea funnel. That means that everyone in an organization should be able to identify who the customer is (which is not always as easy as it sounds) and to be able to determine the core job they help them do.
Lesson 3: Working by the book is merely a basis and can be misleading
Agile working allows for much more versatility in (and out of) the workplace, whether it takes the form of more flexible hours, hot desking or home working. However, those unfamiliar with this style of working may require some guidelines. This is because agile working follows values, rather than strict processes. This fact can make things hard to grasp for those who are more versed in traditional methods and lack experience of it. Guidelines should take the form of patterns and examples, which is a good way for people to learn about existing concepts and to develop their own style. This enables people to know when to ‘bend’ the rules.
Lesson 4: Networks and diverse teams are critical success factors
Creating a diverse team can serve as a bedrock to a company’s future success. It goes without saying that networks and teams should draw from a broad knowledge basis. Leveraging opportunities from just one angle or perspective is insufficient — transferring technologies requires many different perspectives.
To me, though, the most successful teams are also highly inclusive, consist of people from different backgrounds, and also boast a wide range of personalities with different experience levels. This will certainly result in meetings bursting with vibrant discussions that lead to the birth of innovative ideas. Ultimately, this will lead to delivering a better product to the customer, and to a successful company. However, diverse teams are also hard(er) to lead, in my experience. This time-consuming task can yield an extremely knowledgeable team that brings a global perspective to arising challenges to the table.
Lesson 5: Embracing change is crucial, but it is not an excuse for chaos
The last lesson I’ve learned is that there is no silver bullet when it comes to technology transfer. It is inevitable that mistakes will happen along the way. People should be aware of their personal limitations, as change can be exhausting. However, while embracing change is crucial, it is not an excuse for allowing chaos to reign. Therefore, it is important to shape the future, and not to expect success to simply just happen.
So far, it’s been interesting to see the different approaches taken towards technology transfer. While I wrote down these observations, I noticed once again that they all reinforce the fact that technology transfer isn’t an easy topic — there is no simple process to achieve success. That is why I will attempt to make my own ‘technology transfer’ by reshaping these lessons in the form of patterns — a well-established concept in software design. The goal is to define a simple and useful structure that can facilitate solving common challenges of technology transfer in practice. Stay tuned if you’d like to keep up to date with my findings!
Mahdi Manesh is Head of Software Engineering & Deep Tech at Porsche Digital in Berlin. To find out more, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
