Knowledge and technology transfer offices (KTOs): designing organisations to support commercial and societal entrepreneurship

Knowledge and technology transfer offices (KTOs) are hybrid organisations in that they are expected to deliver on multiple goals. These include long-standing goals of supporting research commercialisation processes that generate income for research institutions, as well as taking on a newer, broader role of facilitating the transfer of research-based knowledge and technology to industry and society to bolster the use of science and increase its impact. We argue that these roles represent different institutional logics, which can be difficult for KTOs to reconcile in practice. We moreover propose that how KTOs manage their multiple roles and their ability to do so are conditioned by their organisational design. We present findings from a comparative, qualitative study of two distinct national approaches to the organisational design of KTOs, which explores how different organisational designs shape how KTOs respond to the institutional complexity arising from their multifaceted and evolving goals. We conclude that each organisational design has inherent strengths and weaknesses. The Norwegian KTOs are characterised by a clear commercial logic, centred on profit-seeking commercialisation of research, but they are limited in their ability to adapt to the broadening role of KTOs. Danish KTOs, in contrast, pursue both commercial and societal benefit logics, but this dual focus results in conflicting goals and an unclear mandate. Overall, our study underscores the importance of organisational design in shaping KTOs’ capacity to fulfil their intended aims and the value they create.