Technology transfer in computer science refers to the transfer of technology developed in computer science or applied computing research, from universities and governments to the private sector. These technologies may be abstract, such as algorithms and data structures, or concrete, such as open source software packages.
Examples
Notable examples of technology transfer in computer science include:
| Year of transfer | Technology | Field(s) | Originally developed at | Transfer method(s) | Commercialised at | Patented | Used by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 1964 | BASIC | Programming languages | Dartmouth College | Freeware | Computer manufacturers and others | No | Numerous BASIC dialects |
| 1974 (Internet Protocol published) 1992 (interconnection) | The Internet | Computer networking | Advanced Research Projects Agency | RFC 1992 law permitting commercial interconnection | Numerous companies | No | Millions of web sites and other internet properties |
| 1981 | KMS | Hypertext | Carnegie Mellon University | Spin-out | Knowledge Systems | No | ? |
| 1984 | MATLAB | Programming languages | University of New Mexico1 | Incorporation and rewrite2 | MathWorks | No (original) Yes (from 2001)3 | Millions of users |
| c. 1985 | HyperTIES | Hypertext | University of Maryland4 | Licensing5 | Cognetics Corporation | ? | Union Carbide, Hewlett-Packard, others6 |
| 1990 (initial software) 1994 (Netscape)7 | World Wide Web | Hypertext | CERN | Unfettered use (no patents) Consortium (to create recommended standards) | Netscape and others | No | Millions of web sites |
| 1991 | Gopher | Computer networking | University of Minnesota | RFC | Numerous companies | No | Numerous Gopher sites |
| 1998 | PageRank | Information retrieval | Stanford University | Spin-out | Yes | Google Search | |
| 2004 (software) 2011 (incorporation) | Scala | Programming languages | École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne | Open source | Typesafe Inc. and others | ? | Play, Akka and others |
| 2013 | CRDTs | Distributed computing | INRIA and others | ? | Basho Technologies8 | No | Riak9 |
References
Moler, Cleve (2004). "The Origins of MATLAB". Mathworks.com. Retrieved 19 November 2014. http://uk.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/articles/the-origins-of-matlab.html ↩
Moler, Cleve (2004). "The Origins of MATLAB". Mathworks.com. Retrieved 19 November 2014. http://uk.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/articles/the-origins-of-matlab.html ↩
"Patents". Mathworks.com. Retrieved 19 November 2014. http://uk.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/policies_statements/patents.html ↩
"Hypertext Research: The Development of HyperTIES". Human Computer Interaction Lab. University of Maryland. Retrieved 22 November 2014. http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/hyperties/ ↩
"Hypertext Research: The Development of HyperTIES". Human Computer Interaction Lab. University of Maryland. Retrieved 22 November 2014. http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/hyperties/ ↩
"Cognetics History". Cognetics Corporation. Retrieved 22 November 2014. http://www.leadersintheknow.biz/AboutUs/OurHistory/tabid/174/Default.aspx ↩
Lasar, Matthew (11 October 2011). "Before Netscape: the forgotten Web browsers of the early 1990s". Ars Technica. Retrieved 22 November 2014. https://arstechnica.com/business/2011/10/before-netscape-forgotten-web-browsers-of-the-early-1990s/ ↩
"Introducing Riak 2.0: Data Types, Strong Consistency, Full-Text Search, and Much More". Basho Technologies. 29 October 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2014. http://basho.com/introducing-riak-2-0/ ↩
"Introducing Riak 2.0: Data Types, Strong Consistency, Full-Text Search, and Much More". Basho Technologies. 29 October 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2014. http://basho.com/introducing-riak-2-0/ ↩