Projects of the Experimental Software Engineering Group at the University of Maryland

Technology Transfer (2)

Approach

Protocol studies were made within NASA by interviewing several software engineering experts at various NASA centers in order to understand how new technology was investigated, evaluated, and inserted in their organization. Data from organizations such as the Software Engineering Laboratory was used to quantify some of these protocol studies.

A model of technology insertion is being developed as a way to organize these approaches into a consistent model.

Validation Strategy

This project has goals similar to the Experimental designs study that is being conducted with the Information Technology Laboratory of NIST. In that study, other industrial organizations are being evaluated as to how they insert new technology. The results of that study will be merged with this NASA-based study in order to develop a general model of technology transition.

Project Status

Inactive - Most efforts on technology transfer are being conducted as part of the Experimental Designs study

Results

The initial NASA study indicated that technoloigy transfer is not an event but a process. Rather than a single experiment to evaluate a new technology, using new technology often requires 3 or 4 prototype experiments, course training, and applied research that can often span 2 to 4 years in a single organization.

The concepts of process horizon and technological drift have been defined in a formal model of technology insertion. These need to be applied in real environments in order to determine if we can apply a quantitative value on these concepts.

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Last updated: June 26, 1997 by Marvin Zelkowitz

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