Legislative environment and others factors that inhibit transfer of Mexican publicly funded research into commercial ventures

In this work we explored some factors that limit technology transfer in the process of innovation from different research institutions in Mexico. We found that one of the main inhibitors for technology transfer is the conflict of interest provision in the Federal Law of Administrative Responsibilities of Public Servants. Since most research and development activities are carried out in public institutions, and funding is mainly derived from Federal and State government programs, scientists are considered public servants in the eyes of the Law. Therefore, according to current norms scientists can incur in conflict of interest for technology transfer and commercialization of their research. From the information gathered from this study, we proposed an amendment to the above mentioned Law to eliminate potential conflict of interest, which derives from the participation of scientists from Mexican publicly funded institutions in the creation of spin-off companies, and hence, to incentivize entrepreneurship, technology transfer and innovation to effectively commercialize the products of publicly funded research. We also discovered other inhibitors of technology transfer that are discussed in this paper.