From: smp@iti.org (Stanley M. Przybylinski)
Newsgroups: news.announce.conferences
Subject: 1993 TT Conference Call for Tools
Summary: Technology Transfer Society Conference to focus on TT tools
Keywords: technology transfer, tools
Date: 28 Aug 92 00:01:34 GMT
Organization: Industrial Technology Institute


                      TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER SOCIETY - 1993

                               CALL FOR TOOLS !

                               CALL FOR TOOLS !

Dear Colleague:

As  a  practitioner, researcher, or beneficiary of the processes of technology
transfer, I am sure that you are interested in novel approaches to the field.

The Industrial  Technology  Institute  will  host  the  1993  meeting  of  the
Technology  Transfer  Society,  in Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 26-29, 1993.  Our
goal is to bring to you and your organization not only increased  intellectual
insight  into  technology  transfer phenomena, but a set of deliverables which
can presumably impact your work for years to come.  The substantive theme that
we  have  chosen  for  the  1993  meeting  is  one  that  we believe will have
implications for content, format, and participant interaction.  That theme  is
Technology Transfer Tools and Methods:  A Life Cycle Approach.

Why a "Tools" Approach?

Our  choice  of  this  emphaisis  is based on observation of recent Technology
Transfer Society  meetings,  assessment  of  recurrent  concepts  in  recently
published  literature, as well as our informal awareness of emerging events in
the field.  Technology transfer has often been described as a "social process"
or  a  "body  contact sport."  As advocates and practitioners in the field, we
are frequently drawn to interesting cases, in which novel  organizational  and
technological  linkages are forged by strong personalities.  We relish the war
stories of our work.

Nonetheless, in addition to the "craft"  orientation  of  technology  transfer
practice,  there is a substantial thread of applied research and theory in our
field.  In contrast to a decade ago, there is now a great  deal  of  empirical
knowledge,  and  associated  concepts, to enable us to understand "what causes
what" in technology transfer.  This has enabled us to take  the  logical  next
step.    That  is,  to  concretize that understanding and embed it into a more
systematic, routinized, and replicable approach to what has heretofore been  a
craft.  In effect, people have developed "technologies of technology transfer"
based on our more sophisticated understanding of  transfer  phenomena.    Some
examples of the kinds of tools that we have in mind include:

   - A  simulation game, which in a half-day session conducted with 10-15
     company managers,  mimics  the  issues  and  decisions  involved  in
     implementing new manufacturing technology.

   - A  major  national  consortium has a set of SOPs to fast track CRDAs
     between its members and the Federal laboratory system.

   - A tool to foster a needs driven transfer process in the Federal  lab
     system and with research universities, which works by characterizing
     (in a Needs Book) next-generation technology needs  of  the  durable
     goods sector.  The book is the tool.

   - A  major  software  institute  is developing a systemic, measureable
     approach to "transitioning" software.  It will include a  conceptual
     framework,   a   vocabulary,   models   and  supporting  guidelines,
     checklists, and templates.

   - A workshop that  is  being  offered  to  faculty  members  at  major
     national   universities,   to  familiarize  them  with  concepts  of
     technology transfer and industry teaming.  The tool is  intended  to
     both expand knowledge and change behavior.

   - An  "intelligent" database of laboratory and university technologies
     available for license, which enables  the  user  to  make  inquiries
     about potential applications.

While  no  comprehensive "toolkit" exists from any single source, the informed
technology transfer program and practitioner can pick  and  choose  (at  least
theoretically)  from  an increasing variety of method and tool offerings.  The
importance of the  development  of  tools  to  our  field  is  that  they  are
transportable  and  replicable.    In  effect, these are technologies that can
themselves be disseminated widely.

Unfortunately, they are not.    Our  informal  inquiries  of  Society  members
suggests  that  there is not a widely-shared awareness of what's out there.  A
meeting with tools and methods as its predominant  theme  would  be  a  useful
event  for  the  Society,  its  members  and  our  constituencies.    It could
potentially provide practitioners with a fuller "toolkit", and serve to  focus
further R&D on methods and techniques.

Papers, Proceedings, and Demonstrations:  A Different Approach

With  this  kind  of  an  orientation  to the 1993 Technology Transfer Society
meeting, there are obvious implications for what we will do  there.    As  one
important  example,  we  expect  the majority of our panel presentations to be
significantly more informal and interactive.  Most of the  presentations  will
be  about  specific  "technologies  of  technology  transfer"  - how they were
developed, how they are used, and what are  their  strengths  and  weaknesses.
Obviously  the percentage of time devoted to question-and-answer will go up as
well.

Congruent with this theme, the  published  proceedings  of  the  meeting  will
differ  dramatically from past practice.  While one section of the proceedings
will be similar to recent versions (including reprints of research reports and
delivered  papers),  a second section will be, in effect, a catalogue of tools
and methods.    It  will  abstract  key  features  (use,  developer,  data  on
utility/effects),  as  well  as  indicate resource or contact persons, and any
cost to the user.

Another major feature of the program will be an extensive "tool fair", held on
the  first  day of the meeting.  We visualize upwards of 50 tabletop exhibits,
manned by  one  or  more  individuals.    Meeting  attendees  would  have  the
opportunity  to  circulate  among  the  exhibitions,  talk  and  discuss,  see
demonstrations, and have a preview of more detailed presentations later in the
program.

What We Need From You

In  order  to  realize  the  vision, we are taking a different approach to the
traditional "call for papers."  As a first step in developing the  program  we
are  asking  you  to "nominate" tech transfer tools.  Here is what you need to
do:

   1. Fill out the attached questionnaire (or pass it on to somebody else
      in  your  organization  who  can and should).  Better yet, put your
      responses to the questions on a Word Perfect (version 5.1) disk  (3
      1/2  ").    Please  send to me, or to Ms. Marlene Nicol, Industrial
      Technology Institute, P.O. Box 1485, Ann Arbor,MI, 48106.

   2. The responses to the questionnaire will be screened by our  Program
      Committee,  on  two levels.  In almost all cases (unless you submit
      something that is clearly  not  a  "tool"  but  a  service,  or  is
      otherwise  consdered  inappropriate by the Program Committee), your
      submission (edited for style and consistency) will be  included  in
      the  tool  catalogue  which  will be published for the meeting.  In
      addition to being included in the tool catalogue, you will probably
      be invited to prepare a table top exhibit for the tool fair.

   3. A  second level of screening by the Program Committee will pick out
      those tools which will be highlighted in the formal panel sessions.
      The Program Committee will extend a formal invitation to those tool
      champions to participate and give a presentation.

General Papers

Finally, we are open (on a limited basis) to proposals for  papers  which  are
not necessarily focused on a particular technology transfer tool.  These might
address issues of, and research on, the  development  of  technology  transfer
tools.    They also might address interesting case histories of using transfer
tools, or aspects of the policy environment which  may  impede  or  facilitate
tool development and deployment.

Deadlines

We intend to wrap up the program, as much as possible, this fall.  In order to
do so we need your responses by OCTOBER 1, 1992.  We are willing to work  with
you to craft preliminary submissions.

Summary

In summary, we are asking for a somewhat different response from you, in order
to make this somewhat different kind of meeting a  success.    We  acknowledge
that  this  is  an  innovative - and risky - approach to our meeting, but then
again  innovation  is  what  we  are  about.    Thanks  in  advance  for  your
participation.

Sincerely,

Louis G. Tornatzky, Ph.D.
Scientific Fellow, Industrial Technology Institute
Program Chair
313-769-4144
lgt@iti.org

                                QUESTIONNAIRE

                  TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES

Directions

The  purpose  of  this questionnaire is to obtain descriptive information that
could be published in the "Tool Catalogue" that will  be  published  with  the
1993  Technology  Transfer Society meeting.  The information will also be used
by the Program Committee to select  papers  and  presentations  for  the  1993
meeting.  (See CALL FOR TOOLS letter.)  Please respond to all the questions as
best you can; supply sufficient detail so that somebody  else  can  understand
the tool's value and use.  Try not to disclose proprietary information.  It is
likely that the Program Committee will contact you  for  further  information,
and/or  to  get  your  agreement  with our editing of your description. PLEASE
ATTACH AS MUCH INFORMATION AS NEEDED.



   1. What is the name of the tool?



   2. What is the particular life cycle focus (or  foci)  of  this  tool?
      That   is,   where  in  the  processes  of  technology  innovation,
      development, and transfer does this tool have utility?   (Place  an
      "X" in front of all that apply)

                [ ]       Basic Research

                [ ]       Applied Research

                [ ]       Proof-of-Concept

                [ ]       Prototype

                [ ]       Adoption

                [ ]       Implementation

   3. What  is  the  particular  technological  or industry focus of this
      tool, if any?  In other words, is this  tool  only  appropriate  in
      manufacturing or a certain sub-sector therein?



   4. What  is  the  evidence  of  the  tool's  utility  or  impact?  Any
      evaluation studies? (Citation please of  any  published  evaluation
      study.)

   5. At  what level of analysis does this tool concentrate? For example,
      does the technology help define markets, or choose among  projects,
      or identify technology champions or what? (Place an "X" in front of
      all that apply.)

                [ ]       The technology itself?

                [ ]       The individuals involved

                [ ]       Group or organizational processes

                [ ]       Economic  or   industrial   structures   (e.g.,
      			  markets)

                [ ]       Policy


      Please describe.



   6. What/who  is  the  user(s)  of this tool?  What do they do in their
      company, or organization?

   7. How does the tool work?  If needed, provide a step-by-step  typical
      user  scenario.  (If the tool is proprietary, please DO NOT provide
      proprietary data or information.)



   8. What does the tool provide as a deliverable, outcome or impact?



   9. What is the state of development of  the  tool?    (e.g.  Is  it  a
      commercial  product,  a  "lab"  breadboard.)   Can you provide some
      detail on the developmental history?



  10. Approximately how many users - individual or institutional  -  have
      employed the tool?  Any notable cases?



  11. Is  the  tool  available  in  a "sample" form, or on a trial basis?
      Please describe.

  12. What is the point of contact for  learning  more  about  the  tool?
      (Name,  address, phone, FAX) If the tool is commercialized, what is
      the price or license fee?



PLEASE ATTACH INFORMATION AS NECESSARY.



--

Stan Przybylinski, MTS - Technology Transfer and Commercialization
Industrial Technology Institute, P.O. Box 1485, Ann Arbor, MI 48106
(313) 769-4517   FAX: (313) 769-4064