Abstract:

In the last 20 years, the French higher education, research and innovation system has faced major challenges and profound transformations, completely reshaping its landscape. These include, among other events, the creation of two major new national agencies, the National Research Agency (ANR) and the National Evaluation Agency (HCERES), the establishment of the Competitiveness Poles, changes in funding mechanisms and human resources management, the deepening of the competitive research funding model, the search for greater integration with the demands of society through the sophistication of acceleration mechanisms and the facilitation of technology transfer, as well as the consolidation of the European Research Area.

On the one hand, the neoliberal winds have imposed a budget reduction and made the management of universities and of knowledge production organizations to be rationalized. On the other hand, the contemporary challenges, especially those linked to the indispensable effort to mitigate the consequences of the capitalist production model and its impacts on nature, globally urge the system of higher education, research and innovation to bring its internal agenda closer to social and economic demands.

Thus, the university places itself on the global scene as one of the strategic instruments for addressing issues involving environmental resources, poverty eradication, health and well-being, infrastructure, gender conflicts, migratory processes, etc.

This article aimed to understand the French model of acceleration and facilitation of knowledge transfer, taking the SATT (Sociétés d'accélération du transfert de technologies / Technology Transfer Acceleration Companies) as a case study. The main objective of these societies is to follow up the projects, from their identification as an opportunity for dialogue with external actors to the final stage, when this technology becomes a product, generating a positive impact on society.

According to the SATTs' internal documents, their success is largely based on their ability to identify inventions with strong potential, to take from them an industrially proof of concept and, finally, to transfer those inventions to the market. , either in the form of services, licenses or new business start-ups.

Therefore, the core of SATT's business is the transfer of applicable knowledge and scientific discoveries to the market through licenses with existing companies and the creation of start-up companies.

Understanding this experience allows us to expose a model that, while acting in the field of commercialization of academic results, allows the public spirit, ethics, and transparency to preside over its actions while preserving the great public mission of universities and research centers, but at the same time, allowing such establishments to be able to act in the process of the society development.

In order to conduct this study, a visit and interview were made with the representative of SATT ERGANEO, with the aim to collect and analyze documents available on the website. From this point and from the reading of a literature review on technology transfer and its impacts, it was possible to establish the discussion that underlies the study. Finally, the main result is the detailed presentation of the SATT management, governance, ambition and results process concerning SATT Erganeo data.

Keywords:

Universities, Technology Transfer, Innovation, Social and Economic Development.