We have had to broaden our notions of how to do research, e.g., combining to a much greater extent market research and economic models with our technical efforts. Though we have stronger expertise than our division partners in certain technical areas, there are many situations in which we learn as much from them as they do from us. This is both humbling and exhilarating. People, not papers and reports, transfer technology. Tech transfer is a grass roots effort.
Tech transfer requires support from the top.
Tech transfer requires a reward structure. It is not something that gets done in your spare time. Tech transfer requires understanding by the professors and graduate students of the sponsoring company's strategies, and by the company of what a university research lab can and can not do. Industry funding must at least in part come from a separate corporate source. There is risk in funding a university project, and many mangers are reluctant to take the risk.