Sammanfattning: |
Sweden’s first university department in information systems was established in 1966. Research on methods and tools for information systems development started almost immediately, primarily by the
research groups CADIS and ISAC. Research as well as publication activities of these and other groups
during the seventies has been extensively described in the 40:th anniversary book, published by the
department (Bubenko jr., Jansson et al. 2006). University research in Sweden started to grow during
the seventies. Several persons in organisations in business, industry as well as in the public sector
showed a considerable interest in this research. In the early eighties the situation had matured so much
that a question could be formulated: can knowledge and technology transfer from university research
to practical application be somehow facilitated and enhanced?
In this paper we reflect on our experiences from an initiative to technology transfer in the field of
information systems in Sweden. We are concerned with transfer of knowledge as well as of technical
prototypes from academic research to product development, exploitation, and practical use in
organisations. Our experiences emanate from our work in SISU – the Swedish Institute for Systems
Development. SISU was formed in 1984 and existed until the end of 2000. In this paper we wish to
describe, firstly, which are the main “products” of technology transfer, and, secondly, which are the
main factors that influence (or hinder) the success of a technology transfer initiative. |