Enhancing effectiveness in early stages of technology transfer and entrepreneurship: the case of a new Alzheimer’s disease treatment

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Biotechnology is considered as one of the key technologies for the 21th century (European Commission 2007). Biotechnology is the “application of science and technology to living organisms, as well as parts, [...] for the production of knowledge, goods and services” (OECD 2005). The global biotechnology industry is still a young industry and has some unique characteristics compared to other industries. Those characteristics are, among others: increasing cost of RD Cockburn and Henderson 1998 p.180). The biotechnology industry is dependent on academic research and therefore there is an increasing number of technology transfer and entrepreneurial activities within research institutes and universities (Kim and Marschke 2005; Branstetter and Ogura 2005). Effective and efficient technology transfer is a must today (Fontes 2001).