Technology transfer is a fast-growing activity in the U.S. research and development system, and one which has received substantial attention from governments, industry, and universities. The exact nature of this activity is difficult to pin down, partly because the term has many different connotations. Some of the varieties of technology transfer commonly discussed in business periodicals (such as the Wall Street Journal) include:

• International technology transfer: the transfer of technologies developed in one country to firms or other organizations in another country. In the U.S., this issue is often associated with the undesired transfer of weapons technology to "hostile" nations.
• North-South technology transfer: activities for the transfer of technologies from industrial nations (the North) to less-developed countries (the South), usually for the purpose of accelerating economic and industrial development in the poor nations of the world.
• Private technology transfer: the sale or other transfer...