Technology transfer programs in research and development laboratories, share some common activities related to intellectual property law, and operate traditional "supply push" programs. Such labs have not yet instituted generally accepted operating guidelines for technology transfer. Programs count what is quantifiable (e.g., disclosures, patents issued, license revenue), but do not typically document the process involved, track the resources consumed, nor follow-up on project outcomes. Understandably, technology transfer programs devote staff and budgets to process practice rather than theory.

Some academic researchers are presenting and publishing studies on the methods, metrics and models of technology transfer from the perspective of organizational and project management. These publications represent the formative stages of the emerging discipline of technology transfer.

Corporate technology transfer staff place greater emphasis on the applied aspects of accomplishing technology transfer outcomes, as they relate to the company's product development objectives. They may present and publish on the legal, financial and project management aspects of the process, but do so with less frequency than the technology developers, and are less inclined to engage in scholarly analysis. The state of technology transfer among R&D laboratories remains more art than science, as organizations operate internally developed programs, staffed by people trained in management, law or the hard sciences.

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