Technological entrepreneurship and commercialisation of artefacts: computing and engineering domains

The commercialisation of research by academic entrepreneurs has been recognised as an important driving force for technology transfer and wealth creation. There is general agreement about effective research commercialisation execution processes to support inventions of prototypes and products moving from laboratories to the right market. However, the level of translation and commercialisation success of inventions (innovations) from universities to the industry is questionable. This research aims to investigate effective processes for the commercialisation of research artefacts created in university research centres. A total of four universities' commercialisation and incubation programs were visited and observed. Participants included academic researchers, university officers and private companies, involved in successful and unsuccessful incubation of research artefacts in Australia and Malaysia. The analysis was carried out based on four selected case studies where academics engaged with commercialisation programs conducted in Technology and Science Park or Incubators with Venture Capitalist Firms from industry. A total of 31 academics, universities' officers and representatives from Venture Capitalist Firms involved with the development 16 research artefacts from the Information Technology/Information Systems and engineering disciplines were analysed.  The transcript of data gathered from interviews and observations were analysed. The repeated themes were gathered and coded to provide explanations pertaining to each of the Research Questions. The pathway from immature research outcome to commercialised product or service was investigated. Resource-Based Theory underpinned an analysis that recognised the importance of available tangible resources and intangible capabilities  (Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000) in commercialisation functional units within universities. The interrelationships and roles within the University were described in terms of Waring's (1996) Functional System Model. The positive characteristics of effective incubation cycles housing entrepreneurial academics acting as intermediaries between Universities and Venture Capitalist Firms was interrogated. The inclusion of Incubation Theory was borrowed from life sciences and used to describe the gestation of ideas and Proof of Concepts in Universities followed by iterative conversations involving academics and Venture Capitalist Firms to grow the immature research into marketable products. The findings suggest a need to modify the Functional System Model to include multi-directional information flows between incubation centres and Venture Capitalists, that inform the shift of research artefacts to commercialised products. Knowledge gained will enable a better understanding of successful research commercialisation models and contribute to entrepreneurial academia.