In technology transfer, effective knowledge management and exchange are crucial not only between individuals from different institutions such as universities and companies but also internally between people of the same institution. In particular, ample knowledge sharing among technology transfer officers and researchers involved in entrepreneurship is key to the success of emerging technologies.
Unfortunately, knowledge often remains confined within isolated repositories maybe due to the complexity of sharing tacit knowledge, institutional policies or inertial ways of working. In these cases, valuable knowledge remains stagnant and centralized in disconnected silos. Silo mentality or dynamics are characterized by strict ownership and control of certain knowledge or information, as opposed to leveraging collaboration and knowledge exchange.
Knowledge does not spread spontaneously, so it is vital to establish well-connected and dynamic knowledge networks to promote its flow and maximise the potential for the impact and success of emergent technologies that rely on that.
To harness individual knowledge for collective benefit, technology transfer units rely on two key assets: the diversity in training and the unique professional experiences of their members. While specialization in project management, business development, intellectual property or financing can provide individual competitive advantages, transfer units can collectively benefit from leveraging skill diversity. At the same time, each transfer manager acquires deep, vertical-specific and uncommon knowledge by working with unique projects, industries, or companies. It is essential to transform isolated knowledge repositories into decentralized support networks.
Promoting a culture of knowledge exchange and avoiding experiential knowledge being accumulated in disconnected silos is crucial for achieving the impact mission of research organisations.
However, the reality within research institutions is that valuable knowledge that could propel the entrepreneurial team forward is sitting just two degrees of separation from them but knowledge holders are likely unaware, disconnected or not sharing enough.
Efforts at two different levels are necessary to connect knowledge silos. Institutionally, research centres and universities must proactively build structures, dynamics and cultures that facilitate the formal and informal flow of knowledge across all members involved in entrepreneurship and knowledge commercialisation. Individually, people need to be willing to openly share and adopt knowledge from others even when this reveals individual limitations in our ways of working.
Both levels of action are needed; it is meaningless to establish and promote new channels if people are not willing to share, exchange and adopt new knowledge openly. Aligning incentives, dynamics, and organizational culture is essential to creating opportunities for knowledge exchange and making sure people feel the trust and empowerment to use them.
Knowledge dissemination networks are not only beneficial to the knowledge and technology transfer professionals themselves but can also highly benefit academic and entrepreneurial teams. For instance, organizing knowledge-sharing events and gatherings between past and present entrepreneurs within the institution could also attract academics not yet considering technology commercialization. Regardless of the final success or industry focus of past initiatives, entrepreneur alumni would be able to provide highly relevant feedback, advice and experiences that are often tacit or unspoken.
Fostering active and open knowledge-sharing networks has the potential to benefit not only a single institution but also the broader local transfer community as a whole. Expanding beyond a mindset of competition, the sharing of projects, opportunities and best practices between technology transfer units of different research organizations and universities could help materialise exciting new opportunities.
For example, it would be a shame if the best transfer opportunity or new industrial partnership for a project in one research centre was through a contact of someone sitting on a neighbouring organisation but nobody realized because the two were not sharing.
The power of breaking knowledge silos also applies to research institutions or universities as a whole. Public institutions themselves need to get closer to technology adopters and the market to build extensive bridges of information flow. Having such a dense network of market and research connections requires vision, flexibility and willingness from agents across both sides but will contribute to more efficient, responsible and fast innovation.