Center on Knowledge Translation for Technology Transfer
Development Project D1. Demonstrating Knowledge Translation for Technology Transfer Outcomes to Grantees
Project D1 Objectives:
The purpose of Project D1 is to accomplish product outcomes from Research and Development while demonstrating Knowledge Translation (KT) for Technology Transfer (TT) practices to NIDRR technology grantees. We will involve NIDRR Technology grantees as Participant/Observers in our Development Projects and track the grantee’s uptake and use of demonstrated KT and TT best practices.
Development project D1 will conduct six discrete development projects in specific response to NIDRR’s direction of further developing and testing models, methods or measures of KT for TT in the three technology areas (Sensory, Environmental Access and Wheeled Mobility) on which the Center focuses and NIDRR’s direction on establishing best technology transfer practices that can be used to effectively implement and evaluate the success of technology transfer activities in the technology areas on which the Center focuses.
Project D1’s outputs are tangible prototypes rather than conceptual knowledge. Project D1’s objective is transfer and application (utilization) of these prototypes by collaborating manufacturers, so facilitating use by these target members of the Knowledge Utilization System (KUS) is part of the process. Beyond direct use by manufacturers, Project D1 expects to facilitate knowledge utilization by the Knowledge Production System (KPS) – specifically the participating NIDRR grantees and eventually all grantees as well as NIDRR itself. The participating grantees will follow along through the application of the Knowledge to Action (KTA) Model. By observing how the full KT for TT process works in action, the NIDRR grantees can see the steps involved. By participating in these demonstration projects, the NIDRR grantees will recognize the time and effort required to fully implement each step.
Since Project D1 expects that each new TT demonstration project will complete the KTA Action Cycle in 18 to 36 month intervals, there will be ample time to compute the costs and benefits (KTA step 7) associated with the KT Action Cycle. The participating NIDRR grantee will then have evidence of the input, process and output requirements within the local norms and setting of their technology area. This information is critical for their decision to apply end of grant KT or to integrate KT into their future projects and proposals. This, in turn, will provide NIDRR with evidence needed to integrate KT within their internal systems.
Figure D1.1. D1 Demonstrates KT in Practice for NIDRR and Grantees
Technology Transfer Approaches
The individual technology transfer projects conducted under Project D1 may apply any one of three established approaches to Technology Transfer:
1) Supply Push Model (SP) – a process by which the technology transfer process is initiated through an effort to apply a technology's utility within a new product – the technology supplied is pushing toward the marketplace to address an assumed unsatisfied demand.1
2) Demand Pull Model (DP) – the technology transfer process is initiated in response to a validated market demand for a product feature or function. Companies may seek a solution to a problem articulated by their customers.2
3) Corporate Collaboration Model (CC) – a company’s internal new product development process incorporates the perspectives and efforts of people with functional limitations. For the past decade, NIDRR encouraged the adoption of Participatory [Action] Research in principal and practice.3 This is a logical extension we call Participatory Development. We apply KT practices to communicate the principles of universal or trans-generational design, but do so within the terms of corporate values (e.g., market broadening).
The DRRP Research projects may identify other approaches to technology transfer and Project D1 will add them as options as they are identified.
In an effort to demonstrate best practices in working with a corporate partner on a development project, Project D1 initially will focus on the Corporate Collaboration Model (CC) and the collaborative research approach developed by the T2RERC in its last cycle for its first three development/demonstration projects. This collaborative research approach involves identifying a corporate partner to jointly research and develop a product to fill a known product gap in the consumer marketplace thus fulfilling an unmet consumer need.
Design of Development/Demonstration Program
The objective of this project is to involve relevant technology grantees directly in the DRRP’s process of conducting original R&D within the KTA model, to achieve TT product outcomes.
NIDRR RERC grantees that join our Demonstration projects as participant/observers will participate in the Demonstration project though video conference meetings and teleconferencing with the corporate partner and the DRRP, and through project deliverables and weekly if not daily project status emails. Working in partnership with a corporation, the DRRP will permit the grantee to experience a project applying TT best practices (which requires sufficiently allocated resources), and that is applying them within a KT context. The demonstration process provides adequate time for reflection, when the grantee can compare and contrast the DRRP’s approach to their own. The DRRP’s target grantees include both the RERC and SBIR program grantees. The RERC technology grantees operate primarily in the academic sector and have longer time frames for their projects – five year cycles, while SBIR grantees operate within the business sector and are constrained by shorter timeframes and smaller budgets. This means the Development/Demonstration Projects require two different approaches, one for the RERCs and another for the SBIRs.
The Development/Demonstration projects for RERCs will involve them as Participant Observers in one of our transfer projects. The participant/observer experience is expected to help RERC grantees improve their own understanding of proper practices. It is not designed to directly help RERC grantees with their own projects. Through this Corporate Collaboration development/ demonstration project, the participant observer RERC will be exposed to the details and the form in which research knowledge must be presented to a corporate manufacturer. Corporate manufacturers are seeking research knowledge presented to them in a form that they can easily assimilate within their organization for the purpose of modifying or creating a product for people with disabilities.
The Development/Demonstration projects with SBIR grantees will necessarily be limited to their own funded projects. The DRRP project team will interject our own expertise into the SBIR project so the SBIR will participate/observe how our approach reflects or differs from their plan. As we will be providing free resources including focus groups we anticipate that the SBIR grantee will participate.
The RERC and SBIR Development/Demonstration Projects are necessary to enable the DRRP to engage NIDRR’s technology grantees on a one-to-one basis and to collaborate at a level of detail that immerses these NIDRR grantees in industry-standard practices.
Design of Development/Demonstration Program
Project D1 Methodology
Each development project will follow a standard framework or set of best practices as outlined by PDMA and refined through the 15 years of TT experience of the applicant. This framework includes: Project Definition and Commencement; Consumer Oriented Product Requirements Definition; Project Designers Solution Selection; Project Designers Materials and Component Selection; Consumer Beta Testing of prototype; and in depth consumer environment appropriate testing.
The manufacturer must be able to commit to an 18-36 month development window for any new product. In addition to our own consumer testing, the applicant will rely on the internal facilities, testing protocols and quality control procedures of these companies. The DRRP will then proceed to initiate collaboration, address intellectual property issues, and set project timelines and deliverables.
Facilitating Corporate Partnership
When the T2RERC demonstrated the Corporate Collaboration program’s potential value in the prior cycle by providing design and functional features required by the consumer, our program became viewed as a resource rather than a threat to the corporate design team. That design team retained the latitude to design a product that best fits the manufacturing capabilities of their company. The T2RERC saw how consumers could provide the "What" in terms of functional requirements, while the corporate designers still provided the "How" in terms of implementing those requirements. This process has led to many successful joint product introductions in the marketplace of products for the elderly and people with disabilities.
1Paul, R.H. (1987). Improving the new product development process: making technology push work. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 7(3), 59-61.
