What are the basic modes of technology transfer?

1. From the perspective of the completeness of technology content, technology transfer can be divided into two modes: "transplant" and "grafting".

"transplant" technology transfer refers to the whole content of technology. Multinational companies' overseas expansion mostly realizes their technology transfer through this model. This model has little dependence on the original technology system of the technology absorption subject, but the success rate is high, which is a shortcut for "catch-up" countries or regions to realize the leap-forward development of technology and economy. But the payment cost of transfer is higher.

"grafting" technology transfer refers to the technology transfer realized by the flow of part of technology, such as a unit technology or key process equipment. It takes the original technical system of the technical demander as the female parent, which is grafted and integrated with the external advanced technology, thus causing the function and efficiency of the original technical system to be updated. Obviously, this technology transfer model is highly dependent on the original technical level of technology recipients, and the requirements for matching are harsh. Although the payment cost of technology transfer is low, the frequency of risks in grafting is high. Generally, it is adopted by countries, regions and enterprises with relatively balanced technical strength.

2. According to the differences of technology carriers, technology transfer can be divided into three modes: physical type, intelligent type and human type.

The so-called physical type technology transfer refers to the technology transfer caused by physical transfer. From a technical point of view, the physical objects in the form of means of production and labor products are the materialization and objectification of specific technologies, from which the existence of a certain technology can be reflected. Therefore, when physical objects flow or transfer in space, a certain technology will be transferred, which is the basic form of the so-called "hard technology" transfer.

the so-called "intelligent" technology transfer mode refers to the technology transfer caused by the knowledge dissemination and flow of certain specialized scientific theories, skills, experiences and methods. It does not depend on the transfer of physical objects. This kind of technology transfer is usually called "soft technology" transfer. At present, the commodity trading in the form of patent technology, technical know-how, process formula, information and intelligence on the market is the basic form by which this technology transfer can be realized.

"human-based" technology transfer is an ancient technology transfer mode in human society, which is caused by the flow of people. Such as migration, transfer, recruitment, exchange, off-site training and other forms of mobility, can lead to technology transfer. This is because, no matter what specific form technology takes, it exists with people as the core and is understood, mastered and applied by people. Therefore, the flow of human resources is bound to be accompanied by technology transfer. During World War II, in order to avoid war and fascist persecution, a large number of scientists from Europe, especially Germany, fled to the United States, which led to the transfer of many leading technologies, especially nuclear technologies, from these countries to the United States.

from front to back, the above three technology transfer modes show the characteristics of transferring from tangible technology to intangible technology and from curing technology to activation technology in turn. Judging from the difficulty of transfer, generally speaking, the former is less difficult than the latter because of the different requirements for transfer support conditions. However, from the perspective of the effectiveness of technology transfer, the latter is often greater than the former, and the transfer of talents is the most effective mode of technology transfer.

3. From the technical function, technology transfer can be divided into two basic modes: process technology transfer and product technology transfer.

Generally speaking, within the industrial technology system, there are two systems: process technology form and product technology form, and each technology form contains a number of highly correlated unit technologies, which together form the technical basis of social production activities. From the specific production process, technology is the technical premise and material means for the formation of product technology, which directly determines the technical performance and production capacity of products. From the overall process of social production, product technology often constitutes the unit technology of technology (broadly speaking, the entity of technology itself is a specific product), which in turn affects the overall level and efficiency of technology.

in fact, any industrial technology is not omnipotent in terms of its function, but has its different emphases. When technology focuses on influencing the production process, which can improve efficiency and expand output, we call this technology transfer process technology transfer. When technology focuses on the results of the production process and helps to improve the technical content and function expansion of products, we call this technology transfer product technology transfer. Generally speaking, technology transfer in agriculture and extractive industries mostly belongs to the former, while technology transfer in manufacturing, information industry and construction industry mostly belongs to the latter. At the same time, process technology and product technology have strong coherence in function. Therefore, in the process of technology transfer, the upgrading of product technology is often achieved through the transfer of process technology, or the transformation of process technology is achieved through the transfer of product technology.

it needs to be pointed out that, because the perspective of technology transfer is multi-faceted and the criteria for division are diverse, there are differences and connections between different modes of technology transfer, such as direct and indirect, sincere and insincere, general technology and unique technology, international and domestic, limited and infinite. The above division of technology transfer modes is only relative to the practical value, which is far from exhausting all the modes of technology transfer. At the same time, the distinction between different types of technology transfer modes is only of relative significance. In fact, in the process of technology transfer, most of them are dominated by a certain mode and compatible with other modes, or directly mixed mode technology transfer.