[comp.edu] Info wanted on commercial products started at a university

pz@Apple.COM (Peter Zukoski) (05/11/88)

Howdy -
I'm trying to find commercially successful computer products that were begun in
university research. Some examples might be NuBus, or Ingres.
I'm interested in the success (or failure) of technology transfer between
universities and industry. If you know anything about the way the product
was transferred, that is "How did it begin?", "How did it move out of
the university?", "What made it a successful transfer?", etc. that will
be wonderful. One of the theories I'm investigating is:
"Is it the technology which makes it successful, or is it the people/researchers
involved that make it successful?" For instance, with NuBus, the research
team from MIT went to Western Digital to continue work on the product, and it
was their presence which greatly helped make NuBus a viable product.

If you have examples, history, and opinions on technology transfer issues they
will be most welcome.

Please forward this if you know of anyone expert in this area.

Thanks in advance.
Please mail responses. If you're interested in any results, let me know, and
I'll forward them to you, or post if enough interest is shown.


peter "does a dogma have the buddhist nature" z
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I demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!

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