Behind the Curtain: An Analysis of Internal TTO Programs

Using the AUTM Statistics Access for Technology Transfer database and a personal survey of 86 universities, I examine the effects of a variety of internal technology transfer office programs on technology transfer performance. The main findings are that equity-intensive investment policies are shown to have a positive impact on university startup formation and mentoring programs increase the number of licensing agreements a university executes by 20 to 22 percent. Innovation award programs, iBridge network membership, and express licenses have no significant effect on the number of licensing agreements a TTO generates. To the best of my knowledge, no previous studies have examined the effects of multiple internal TTO programs on technology transfer performance.