Drivers of Progress and Sources of Revenue: The Role of Universities in Technology Transfer
In the modern world, the effective transfer of socio-economic and humanities-based knowledge to the real economy and public administration is essential. Universities play a decisive role in this process. They have the capability to unite diverse teams and, in partnership with the state and businesses, develop and enhance advanced technologies.
On November 5, 2024, the HSE Centre for Transfer and Management of Socio-Economic Information hosted an expert seminar titled ‘The Transfer of Socio-Economic Knowledge in a Changing World: Trends, Challenges, and Best Practices.’ The seminar featured experts from Algeria, Egypt, India, Iran, China, Pakistan, Tunisia, Ethiopia, as well as researchers from HSE University.
‘Knowledge transfer is a global development trend that is evolving today within the framework of the “new interdisciplinarity,”’ emphasised Anna Barsukova, Deputy Vice Rector of HSE University and analyst at the Centre for Transfer and Management of Socio-Economic Information, opening the seminar. ‘We see knowledge transfer as a tremendous opportunity for the development of technologies, social sciences, and partnerships between business, universities, and government,’ she noted.
Vera Vishnyakova
The Director of the Centre for Transfer and Management of Socio-Economic Information, Vera Vishnyakova, described the seminar as an opportunity for the international expert community to discuss trends and challenges in the transfer of socio-economic knowledge for universities, as well as best practices where social sciences have merged with STEM to create opportunities for generating new knowledge.
In her presentation on the specifics of technology transfer in Russia, Vera Vishnyakova highlighted the unique relationship between the Russian state and universities. ‘The state adopts strategic documents and, by funding support programmes for technology transfer, helps universities and industries focus their research topics in a way that aligns with the needs of public administration, the real economy, and the social sphere,’ she said. In this context, participants in the Priority 2030 Federal Academic Leadership Programme are required to achieve applied results from their research. Additionally, a state programme has been launched to support universities in developing technology transfer centres.
Vera Vishnyakova added that HSE is one of the leaders in these programmes: ‘Over the past two years, according to preliminary estimates, more than 600 commissioned projects in the socio-economic field have been implemented at HSE University, with over 300 clients involved.’ The Centre for Transfer and Management of Socio-Economic Information has developed digital ecosystems to support researchers in conducting studies and to simplify access to scientific materials, external scientific and informational resources, databases, and government support measures. However, challenges and issues in this area remain, influenced by many factors.
Vera Vishnyakova called on participants to collaborate, emphasising that ‘technology transfer for universities serves as a driver of scientific and technological development, creating a favourable environment for exploring new tools for international cooperation.’
Presentations by Seminar Participants:
Yu Cao, Executive Vice President of the Zhejiang Intellectual Property Exchange Centre, spoke about the Chinese government's policies on the registration and commercialisation of intellectual property rights, support measures for companies holding patents, the operations of data exchanges, and the implementation of a government-supported model for universities in the technology transfer process.
Professor Pradeep Srivastava, from the Technological Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (India), shared his views on the positive impact of technology transfer on GDP. Using India as an example, he discussed collaborations in R&D projects, the promotion of technologies, and spin-off start-ups—subsidiary companies of universities and corporations.
Palak Khanna, a research associate at the Centre for Sustainable Research and Leadership in at the Energy and Resources Institute (India), presented an applied case in the agricultural sector in the clusters of Jharkhand and emphasised the significant role of women in this project.
Muhammad Naseem Khan Achakzai, Advisor to the Deputy Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan, shared examples of knowledge transfer initiatives, highlighted the key challenges faced by his country in developing this field, and called for active international cooperation in technology transfer.
Hend Allam, a lecturer at Tanta University (Egypt), described the implementation of an idea to connect hospitals with pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies through an analytical information system with the involvement of the government.
Anastasia Ugleva
In the concluding presentation of the seminar, Anastasia Ugleva, Deputy Director of the HSE Centre for Transfer and Management of Socio-Economic Information, shared best practices in the transfer of socio-economic and humanities research at HSE. These included the RuCLAB system for assessing Russian language proficiency in children, the SCT Linguatest multi-level language testing system, the Sociolit platform for analysing textual content, digital tools for modelling development scenarios for the Russian economy, and the SanctionsRuBase+ database, which tracks sanctions against Russia.
Sergey Kozarezov
During the discussion following the presentations, Sergey Kozarezov, Advisor at the AI and Digital Science Institute at HSE University, spoke about the latest trends in the use of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). This AI technology is utilised for processing document and data corpora studied during the development of socio-economic products.
Participants also discussed the specifics of creating and commercialising datasets, as well as the shortage of data needed to train foundational models—a potential market for the creation and commercialisation of synthetic data, including for export.
At the conclusion of the seminar, participants proposed new tools for further collaboration on the topic of advancing technology transfer at universities.
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