Electronic Thesis/Dissertation
Predicting Federally Funded Research & Development Outcomes with Ideation, Project and Organizational Factors Open Access
The United States (US) is a world innovation leader largely due to federally funded investments in research and development (R&D;). More than ever, it is important to maintain this innovation lead as countries that are unfriendly to the US invest increasingly more resources in R&D; with resulting technologies that challenge our public’s well-being. Investments in R&D; conducted at federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) contribute to innovation through the introduction and distribution of knowledge and inventions as research outcomes are shared with the public through the process of technology transfer. As available federal funding decreases it is imperative that investments in R&D; are made in projects with the highest likelihood of return on investment through technology transfer to the public sector. Prior qualitative research has identified success factors for technology transfer, including those related to project management and the organization. This quantitative study delves into those factors and explores an ideation question: does crowdsourcing stakeholder comments to R&D; project proposals provide insights for funding decision makers into the potential outcomes of an R&D; project, and serve as a predictor of technology transfer? This paper provides a review of literature regarding the federally funded R&D; ecosystem, technology transfer enablers, innovation management, and crowdsourcing for impact. Using quantitative methodologies, the researcher develops and analyzes models to predict technology transfer outcomes that will benefit the American public with increased levels of innovation.
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