Transferring knowledge and technology from academia to industry is usually understood as a process. While previous research focuses on phenomena along the process and its outcomes, the starting point of the process—the initiation of a transfer activity—remains unstudied. We conceptualize this initiation as a simultaneous recognition of a transfer opportunity and the choice of a transfer channel and provide first empirical insights into the initiation of the transfer process. We use survey data from 1149 scientists from the German state of Thuringia and their activities in science–industry collaboration, intellectual property rights, and spin-off creation. We employ seemingly unrelated regressions to account for selection and multiple channel choices in our econometric approach. Our results show a positive relationship between scientists’ different kinds of prior knowledge and the probability of recognizing a transfer opportunity. Contrary to our expectations, scientific impact reduces the likelihood of recognizing a transfer opportunity. For the choice of the transfer channel, the results show a positive relationship between choosing the spin-off channel and risk willingness, as well as basic research. Applied research increases the likelihood of choosing intellectual property rights as a channel. Furthermore, role models are positively associated with these two channels.
Academic scientists who commercialize their research findings via spin-off creation have to transition from the academic sphere to the commercial sphere. Along this spin-off creation process, they face challenges adapting to the conflicting logics of these spheres. We hypothesize that throughout the three phases of this process, the importance of the academic sphere decreases while the importance of the commercial sphere increases. We collected a representative sample of 1,149 scientists from the German state of Thuringia. To test our hypotheses, we apply dominance analysis and estimate the relative importance of the two spheres. In line with our hypotheses, the importance of the academic sphere declines and the importance of the commercial sphere increases at the beginning of the process. Towards the end of the process, we observe a further decline in the relative importance of the academic sphere, but, unexpectedly, also a decline for the commercial sphere. Notably, our results show that the commercial sphere is in general more important than the academic sphere throughout the process. Our results challenge existing conceptualizations that emphasize the importance of the academic sphere, especially at the beginning of the spin-off founding process. The results provide intervention points for policy measures to promote academic spin-offs.