University technology transfer: network bridge promotion by the Medici Fellowship Scheme

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the Medici Fellowship Scheme addressed attitudinal and resource barriers to the commercialisation of knowledge within five research‐intensive universities. The following research questions were explored: Did the Medici fellows change the attitudes of academic network members in host departments towards the commercialisation of research? Did the Medici Fellowship Scheme encourage fellows to accumulate human and social capital? Did the Medici Fellowship Scheme encourage fellows to leverage their academic and practitioner networks?

The scheme was implemented in Biomedical departments across five universities located in the Midlands in England. Six months after the completion of the scheme information was consistently gathered from six Medici fellows, six technology transfer officers (TTOs) and six senior academics. Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted. Information was gathered through structured and semi‐structured open‐ended questions.

Fellows who accumulated human and social capital were able to act as agents of attitudinal change in their host departments. The fellows did not markedly change the culture towards commercialization, but they addressed several structural holes by building network bridges with actors positioned in practitioner networks. They created new weak ties with external actors who provided early stage funding, market and legal information and potential customers. Fellows also strengthened existing ties within academic networks both inter and intra university. The career destinations of the fellows after the scheme helped sustain bridging behaviour by providing points of contact for their peers and/or by demonstrating the viability of alternative sources of funding and prestige for academics.

Despite a widely perceived successful scheme, structural holes were still apparent in the monitored departments. Additional bridges need to be built between academic networks and actors, such as surrogate entrepreneurs and private equity financiers, to ensure the sustained development of new ventures.

Guided by insights from human and social capital theory and network theory the outcomes associated with a novel structured training initiative were monitored. Case study evidence was gathered from three types of university stakeholders (i.e. Medici fellows, TTOs and senior academics) involved in the commercialisation process.