ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role which can be played by consultants to enable transfer to proceed effectively and, in particular, through an assessment of the UK experience, how they can be an integral part of government policies aimed at stimulating the diffusion of industrial best practice. Realization of the potential role innovation agents can play in facilitating the development of technological competence has increasingly made them a target for policy-makers. ‘Technology transfer’ can be described as the process through which technology moves from outside sources to the organization. Experience with one of the most successful technology transfer vehicles – the Teaching Company Scheme – suggests that time is an important aspect in allowing effective relationship building. On the demand side firms differ not only in their technological competence but also in their innovative capability, i.e. their ability to absorb and assimilate new inputs of technology.
