再探大學研發技轉中心的代理人角色

Revisiting the Agent Roles of the Technology Transfer Office in University Commercialization

Under the influence of the U.S. Bayh-Dole Act, Taiwan followed the global trend and legislated the“Fundamental Science and Technology Act”in 1999. Over the period between 1999 and 2010, a series of laws was enacted to allow university and academic scientists to privatize the outcomes of government-funded research. However, there is little previous work on the interrelationships among the three major players in university commercialization activities: the university administration, the faculty, and the Technology Transfer Office （TTO）. Agency theory is considered as a useful organizational theory to predict agent behavior in the Principal-Agent （P-A） relations in the process of university commercialization. Drawing upon agency theory, the dilemma and pitfalls of TTO as a dual agent are examined in this qualitative study with 30 interviewees from 10 universities in Taiwan. The results of this research have practical and theoretical implications for university technology transfer policy and the limitation of the incentive system for TTOs built within the universities.

在美國杜拜法案的影響下，全球高等教育機構紛紛起而效尤，包括台灣也在1999年通過之科技基本法與數次後續的修法中，允許大學校院與大學教授可不受國有財產法之限制，就其政府補助之科研成果，申請專利並授權使用。然而，在大學商業化的過程中，學校結構內相關利害關係人的相互影響，仍是國內文獻甚少討論的議題。透過質性的研究方法，本研究旨在理解大學商業化過程中三個主要參與者：大學行政中心（校方）、技轉中心、科研發明者（大學教授）的不同角色，以及技轉中心作為一個雙重代理人所面對的不同期待、挑戰以及可能導致的負面行為。本研究有助於政策制定者了解大學商業化中不一致的組織目標可能帶來的負面影響。