Bringing Engineering Research to Market: How Universities, Industry, and Government are Attempting to Solve the Problem

:Significant barriers impede the effective commercialization of new technologies created at universities. We review the nature of these barriers and consider one solution in the form of a collaborative network environment: the National Network for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization (N2TEC). This article contributes on two levels to the knowledge of engineering managers who are attempting to rapidly implement technology: (1) it explains an important new tool for facilitating collaboration and commercialization, and (2) it describes the challenges met and overcome in the organization and implementation of a virtual network.