An inside-out perspective on stakeholder management in university technology transfer offices

This paper provides exploratory insight into the stakeholder management performed by the technology transfer offices (TTOs) of 5 Flemish universities. Based on the existing literature, applying an inside-out perspective, we investigate how TTOs try to define their stakeholders, which stakeholders they consider important in this regard, how they classify these stakeholders and, finally, what strategy TTOs apply to deal with their stakeholders. In the context of university TTOs, this research adds to the field of technology transfer, valorization and innovation by delving deeper into the stakeholder management dynamics from both a conceptual and a managerial perspective. The insights show that identifying, classifying & strategically approaching stakeholders is more ad hoc than structured or embedded for the approaches included in our study. The research shows that little use is made of definitions, classifications, or service-level strategy. Across universities, there is no structurally anchored strategic approach. The reasoning behind this approach is found in the dependency TTOs perceive in their relation to their stakeholders.