Strategies and determinants for successful space technology transfer

The following paper reports the results of a research work carried from 2008 on the topic of strategies and determinants of space technology Transfer (TT). In particular, the aim of this study is to present: 1. The policies and strategies the major space agencies adopt for TT, 2. The operational mechanisms and determinants involved in the transfer of space technologies to other industrial sectors. To this extent we have conducted in the last five years: six case studies of large space agencies, four TT case studies concerning the construction of scientific satellites, two case studies focused on space to earth TT programs undertaken by the Japanese aerospace agency, and two TT case studies examining Italian space companies. The comparative and comprehensive analyses of these studies indicate that the space agencies of the more industrialized countries aim primarily at consolidating and developing the industrial systems in their own countries, which include the use of technology transfer programs, and that the transfer of space technologies follows the route “Earth–Space–Earth”. With regard to the determinants of the TT process, the most important of these correlate with the type of technology in transfer, whereas organizational, economic and financial determinants have less significance.