Revisiting the Agent Roles of the Technology Transfer Office in University Commercialization

Under the influence of the U.S. Bayh-Dole Act, Taiwan followed the global trend and legislated the ＂Fundamental Science and Technology Act＂ in 1999. Over the period between 1999 and 2010, a series of laws was enacted to allow university and academic scientists to privatize the outcomes of government-funded research. However, there is little previous work on the interrelationships among the three major players in university commercialization activities: the university administration, the faculty, and the Technology Transfer Office (TTO). Agency theory is considered as a useful organizational theory to predict agent behavior in the Principal-Agent (P-A) relations in the process of university commercialization. Drawing upon agency theory, the dilemma and pitfalls of TTO as a dual agent are examined in this qualitative study with 30 interviewees from 10 universities in Taiwan. The results of this research have practical and theoretical implications for university technology transfer policy and the limitation of the incentive system for TTOs built within the universities.