Developing countries and the aircraft industry: match or mismatch?

For many industrially developing countries, technology transfer is seen as a road towards technological and economic development. Indonesian experiences with the aircraft industry suggest that the transfer of technology in this sector is extremely difficult, and even if technology is actually transferred it does not necessarily lead to a viable industry. To determine the key elements for a successful transfer of technology, research was undertaken with a focus on the process of technology transfer at the operational level in industrially developing and developed countries. The research revealed that many technology transfer projects do not or, at best, only marginally contribute to technological development. It also showed that the aircraft industry, and possibly other industries as well, might be better suited to specific countries. To avoid making investments in industries that will inevitably not be competitive, industrially developing countries should be careful when deciding which types of industry to foster.     

Quantifying the benefits of participating in an industry university research center: An examination of research cost avoidance

The challenges to conducting valid and complete outcome evaluations of cooperative research activities, like the National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) Program, are daunting. The current study tries to make a small but important contribution to this area by attempting to develop quantitative estimates of one center benefit - R&D cost avoidance. Cost avoidance is operationalized as R&D costs industrial members would have incurred but did not, because they participated in university-based industrial consortia, minus the costs of belonging to the consortia. Data were collected from a total of 18 industrial sponsors from three IUCRCs on 35 different research projects. Findings indicate that some firms do avoid R&D costs by participating in an IUCRC but the prevalence of this benefit varies across centers and across firms. The implications of these findings for policy, practice and future research are discussed.