ABSTRACT

Focusing on the contention that technology transfer occurs via the university-industry relationship, this chapter explores the extent to which technology transfer and assimilation is occurring as a result of university-industry links with the foreign high technology electronics industry in Guadalajara. The nature of the technology and the channels through which it may be transferred from the modern production and innovative system of foreign corporations to the academic and production system of the host country are identified by analyzing the university-industry links and interactions. In the first part of this chapter the relationship of higher education institutions and the foreign high technology electronics industry will be described. Following that, in the second part the impressions and perceptions of this relationship from both the academic community and the electronics industry representatives’ points of view will be presented. In the third part, the occurrence of informal mechanisms of technology transfer will be analyzed. Finally, the extent to which technology transfer and assimilation are occurring, their nature, levels and channels of transference will be presented in the fourth part of this chapter.