Financing technology transfer: assessment of university-oriented proof-of-concept programmes

ABSTRACT

This study analyses the characteristics of the proof-of-concept (POC) programmes initiated by university and public research organisations in Europe, as a mechanism to address funding gaps and improve the transfer of research-based inventions to markets. We contribute to the literature on investment readiness of new ventures and on financing technology transfer by assessing the structure of such funding instruments and identifying critical success factors for their design and implementation. The analyses rely on seven in-depth case studies of university-oriented POCs in Europe.

KEYWORDS:

• Proof-of-concept programmes
• university
• technology transfer
• Europe

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Federico Munari is Full Professor of Technology and Innovation Management at the University of Bologna. He holds a PhD in Management from the University of Bologna, and has been a visiting scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management and visiting researcher at the Ecole des Mines and at Cass Business School. His research interests are in the fields of technology transfer, valuation of IPRs, venture capital, and entrepreneurial finance.

Maurizio Sobrero is Full Professor of Management at the University of Bologna. He holds a PhD in Technology Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is a lifetime member of the Production and Operation Management Society of America. His research interests are in the area of technology management and the economics of innovation. He has published and edited six books and several articles have appeared in major international journals.

Laura Toschi is Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Bologna. She received her Ph.D. in Management from the University of Bologna. She has been a visiting scholar at the Boston University and Research Fellow at the SPRU, University of Sussex. Her main research interests are in (i) entrepreneurial finance, (ii) TT activities, and (iii) innovation management.

Notes

1 A detailed description of the survey is provided in the paper by Munari et al. (2015).

Additional information

Funding

Financial support from the EIBURS Programme of the European Investment Bank for the ‘Financing Knowledge Transfer in Europe’ (FinKT) Research Project and from MIUR for the PRIN Project ‘Market and Non-Market Mechanisms for the Exchange and Diffusion of Innovation’ is gratefully acknowledged.