The importance of technology transfer to innovation and wealth creation is now recog nised by most governments. As the policy debate has intensified, however, it has become clear that the problem of encouraging successful transfer is complex, and requires an interdisciplinary approach. The collection of papers in this volume is deliberately diverse. It offers perspectives from economics, sociology, science, engineering and public administration, and also from outside academic life, from those involved at the 'sharp end' of technology licensing and administering government research programmes. Contributions are also drawn from a rangeofnational backgrounds-the authors are drawn from ten countries, from through out Europe and North America. The main focus for the papers was a NATOAdvanced Study Workshop, which took place at the National Institute ofEconomic and Social Research, London, in September 1995. Unfortunately time and space has prevented all of the contributions appearing here, but all those who attended played an important role in making the event such a success. Thanks are also due to Dr Alain Jubier and his colleagues at NATO, without whose support and advice the seminarcould not have take place, to my fellow organising committee members Dr Katalin Balazs, Dr Linda Parker and Professor Steve Woolgar, and to Monica Miglior who, in addition to assisting in the conference organisation, pro vided detailed notes on sessions which helped greatly in later analysis.

Inhalt
A comparative analysis of civilian technology strategies in France, Federal Republic of Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States.- Technology Transfer in Practice.- Promoting technology transfer in the US university: when it works, when it doesn't.- Patents and technology transfer in public sector research: the tension between policy and practice.- Dealing with big bureaucracies: problems for the small technology producer.- Manufacturing technology transfer between west and east Europe.- Some issues of techno-economic developments in Turkey.- Diffusion of new technologies through appropriate education and training.- Economic constraints on technology transfer to the transitional economies: the example of the agricultural and food sectors.- Professional and technical structures as a barrier to technology transfer.- Technology Transfer in the Transition Economies: Case Studies.- Barriers to technology transfer in central and eastern Europe.- Obstacles faced by small firms in the technology transfer process in Romania.- Technology transfer in Ukraine: slow changes on a background of fast economic decline.- Changing factors of technology transfer in the Czech republic.- Academic entrepreneurship in high-technology firms in Bulgaria.- Conclusions.- Adoption and adaptation of technology transfer mechanisms between nations.