An invention, innovation or new technology is a seed of a product or application. It faces any number of challenges during the development process including the possibilities of:
Being so new that the marketplace and consumers don't even recognize their need for it
Not having products and applications based on the new technology that are well enough defined
Difficulties assessing its economic value
Being a high risk application to produce and sell
The role of a formal technology transfer process is to identify and evaluate technologies. Inventions must be protected through patent applications or other intellectual property protections. A marketing strategy needs to be created for new products as well as identifying licensees, monitoring their progress of bringing the technology to application and protecting it against infringement. A formal technology transfer process assures that each of these critical steps are completed.
Typically a technology transfer project will:
Review inventions before any submissions or public disclosures
Evaluate whether the invention or technology has enough public or market value to warrant the patent prosecution funding