Determinants of R&D Commercialization by SMEs after Technology Transfer

This study aims to analyze the factors that could influence business decisions of in the commercialization of R&D when technology is transferred from government research institutes (GRIs) to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We examine 353 such cases of technology transfer. The dependent variable is whether the licensee had the intention of following up with R&D after the technology has been transferred. The independent variables, classified into ex-ante factors and ex-post factors, consist of the involvement of SMEs into GRI R&D, technology readiness level, relatedness to existing technologies, and contribution to sales revenue and level-up of existing technologies. The results of the study show that the contribution to existing technologies has a positive impact on R&D commercialization. However, unlike our expectation, contribution to sales revenue, the involvement of SMEs into GRI R&D, technology readiness level, the relatedness to existing technologies of the technology transferred have no impact on follow-up R&D.