Organizational structures for external growth of University Technology Transfer Offices: An explorative analysis

•We identify three organizational structures adopted by UTTOs to grow externally.•The three structures are: a network, a Strong Hub and a Light Hub structure.•The structures allow to overcome problems of economies of scale and scope in TT.•The adoption of the structures fosters the sharing of best practices among UTTOs.•University and UTTO characteristics are crucial in choosing the structure to adopt

Despite the increasing attention to university-industry technology transfer, limited emphasis has been posed on how the university offices in charge of this task organize themselves to grow. University Technology Transfer Offices (UTTOs) can grow internally, e.g. expanding their staff, or externally, e.g. pooling resources among different UTTOs creating new organizational structures. In this paper we study the latter. Exploiting the opportunity of a specific technology transfer policy introduced in Italy, we develop six in-depth case-studies, encompassing twenty UTTOs. We identify three organizational structures that are adopted by UTTOs to achieve external growth. In discussing antecedents, advantages and disadvantages of each organizational structure, we derive implications for UTTOs' managers and policy makers.