project management

Technology transfer job scheduling for universities

Introduction
job scheduling weekly and daily assignments

job scheduling weekly and daily assignments the old fashioned way

This study describes the development of a novel job scheduling tool for university technology transfer using simulated annealing in R-programming. Technology commercialization managers often face training inventors on intellectual property (IP) laws and IP policies. They also evaluate invention disclosures for patentability and marketability. In addition, they draft and implement invention marketing plans. Further, they work closely with patent counsel on patent prosecution. Expediency is important. The amount of time taken to evaluate invention disclosures and file patent applications often conflicts with inventors’ desire to publish findings. Yet, very few technology transfer managers use project management job scheduling tools to minimize processing time.

Importance of Job scheduling

Job scheduling is crucial because it has the potential for improving staff accountability and trust between the TTO staff and faculty. However, TTO staff that value their academic freedom and autonomy may resist the use of job scheduling tools. A description of experimentation follows and the test results is provided. The discussion provides the primary implication for technology managers.  The job scheduling tool schedules technology transfer tasks quite easily and speedily with this proposed job scheduling tool. I scheduled a hypothetical set of TTO staff job tasks that did not include faculty inventor tasks. These are study limitations. Thus, future research should include further experimentation in actual university technology transfer offices using the job tasks in real time.

Findings

In short, I found fascinating discoveries through experimentation. Simulation annealing is an advanced optimization tool. University technology transfer job scheduling is ideal for this. The meta-heuristic simulated annealing program converges to an optimal solution that satisfied the constraints. As it happens, the use of simulated annealing for job scheduling statistically guarantees finding an optimal solution (Ingber, 1993).  In conclusion, the job scheduling tool experimentation illustrates the use of advanced optimization to schedule TTO staff job tasks in a very quick and simple manner.

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Chinese innovators technology transfer job insecurities

Introduction
Chinese innovators in research lab

Chinese innovators

This research focuses on Chinese innovators technology transfer and perceived insecurities. The focus is on perceived job insecurity among university faculty researchers and technology transfer office (TTO) staff working with Chinese colleagues. As it happens, university technology transfer is growing in China. This is vital to China’s innovation and intellectual property program. This article provides a literature review used to create a theoretical framework for explaining conflicts between university technology transfer participants. Certainly, economic development and business competitiveness rely on innovation and intellectual property generation. Given increased investments in university research and Chinese universities, it is important to be aware of conflicts between university technology transfer office staff and faculty. Conflicts between university technology transfer participants can thwart efforts to create thriving, successful university technology innovation and commercialization programs.

Job Insecurity

This article provides a literature review which defines insecurity as perceived threats felt by both the faculty researchers and TTO staff.  From this literature review, I developed a theoretical conceptual framework and hypotheses to explain this phenomenon. This article examines the top impediment to faculty researchers’ engagement in the process: faculty indifference, ideological resistance, poor discoveries, limited TTO budget, bad TTO reputation, and university bureaucracy (Markman, 2005).

Other impediments examined are lack of trust in the process, delays, and building and guarding research collaboration funding relationships. Further, concerns exist among non-tenured faculty researchers. In addition, this article also examines the theoretical framework for the study of job insecurity related to university technology transfer. Job insecurity is a perceptual phenomenon (Sverke, 2002, Greenhalgh, 1984). This is an affected distress in alignment with stress theory. Stress theory teaches that the anticipation of a fundamental and unwanted event leads to strain (Sverke, 2002).

Conclusion

In summary, this research focuses on job insecurity among university faculty researchers and technology transfer office (TTO) staff. This study is very important to the field of university technology transfer because job insecurity can lead to reduced work effort, propensity to leave, and resistance to change (Greenhalgh, 1984). Personality, motivation, social exchange, social network, power dominance, worker resistance, and communication theories are discussed. Notably, a theoretical conceptual model of the phenomenon is also provided and discussed. Fourteen (14) related propositions are presented. This is groundwork for a future empirical study to test this theoretical concept for Chinese innovators technology transfer.

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