Assessment of Readiness for Internal Technology Transfer – A Case Study

Paper in proceeding, 2011

Premature introduction of new technologies in product development is likely to lead to both budget and schedule overruns. The assessment of when a technology is ready to be transferred from technology development to product development and production is critical for striking the right balance of short time-to- market and low risk. Previous research on internal technology transfer has mainly focused on the development of methods and tools for assessing technology readiness for major development programs in governmental agencies, revealing few cases of such implementations in technology driven industrial companies. This paper aims to provide description of experiences from using such tools at a case company and prescription on how to manage the identified challenges. The study is based on 22 semi-structured interviews, primarily with personnel from the technology and product development departments. The results indicate that the readiness assessments suggested in literature can support decisions also in industrial companies. However, adapting the tools to the internal differences between technologies is important for minimizing administrative workload and ensuring implementation readiness as opposed to just technology readiness. The strategy for their adaptation could benefit from more research on the practices of companies dealing with internal technology transfer and from the development of a framework for how to adapt the assessment process to different contexts.