The Technical Transfer Framework
The Technical Transfer Framework provides a flexible, 5-step guide to planning and implementing what is done before, during, and after technical transfer as a resource for people engaging in the art and science of technical transfer. This Framework was developed by the Sagebrush Technical Transfer Network, sourcing knowledge from many people with decades of experience.
The PRINCIPLES OF TECHNICAL TRANSFER
The Principles of Technical Transfer are a throughline of successful technical transfer efforts. Use them to guide technical transfer planning through the Framework below.
Tailor your effort to the audience
The audience is the driver of a successful technical transfer effort. Take the time to get to know your specific audience, their management goals, and their decision space. Ask questions to understand what’s important to them, their level of knowledge and skill, and the challenges they face. Let these factors guide your effort. If you can, meet the audience face-to-face in their communities or workplaces.
Focus on a specific management need
Effective technical transfer focuses on a specific management need. This includes a topic of resource management importance and the needs of your audience related to a specific decision, action, or question. Your technical transfer approach should consider the organizational or institutional processes, regulations, laws, policies, etc., that influence how technical information informs their decisions or actions. Acknowledge and embrace that decisions and actions are based on many values, sources of information, and perspectives far beyond Western science.
Filter, distill, and integrate relevant information
Technical transfer efforts ideally will filter and distill from the body of technical information (science, data, technology, and tools) available to address a specific management need, integrating the most actionable and relevant information. Try to avoid overly narrow efforts that do not adequately address the needs of the audience or are exclusively focused on promoting a specific tool or product.
Prioritize relationship building
Enduring technical transfer prioritizes relationships. Trust and respect often have a greater bearing on the success of a technical transfer effort than academic credentials or the impressiveness of technical products. Build and foster relationships with science producers and end-users early in the process. When necessary, leverage the relational capital of others and consider the right messenger for your audience.
How to use this framework
The Technical Transfer Framework (Figure 1) is meant to be used in a collaborative, participatory manner. We recommend reviewing the Framework independently for personal training. For implementing the Framework, we recommend moving through the steps with a team that includes technical transfer “doers”, the audience of the effort, and, when relevant, knowledge generators or keepers.
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BEFORE TECHNICAL TRANSFER…
① DEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE AND MANAGEMENT NEED
To center your effort, identify the “for who?” and the “why?”
The audience is a specific set of end users who are usually involved in decisions or actions related to resource management. They have a management need: for a topic of resource management importance, needs related to a specific management decision, action, or question. They may have a defined decision space or process for making and implementing decisions or actions. They may have specific ways in which they can or are required to incorporate technical information into management.
The technical transfer effort should help integrate relevant technical information, including science, data, technology, and practices, into the audience’s decision-making process. Each effort must be tailored to the audience’s social, cultural, and institutional context, decision process, and knowledge or skill level. A technical transfer effort may have multiple audiences, but approaches (Step 3) should be tailored to each.
Key Questions for Defining Your Audience And Management Need
1A. What is the management need, and why is it important? What resource management decision, action, or question is being addressed?
2A. Who is/are your intended audience(s)? How can your audience use information to inform a decision, action, or question?
3A. What is your audience’s background and technical skill level relative to the topic? Is there a need to establish a shared understanding of the technical issues?
Resources for Step 1
- We highly recommend checking out The Technical Transfer Planning Worksheet for additional information on this step, and to support your planning efforts!
② DETERMINE IF TECHNICAL TRANSFER IS APPROPRIATE
Verify you are using the appropriate tool for your audience’s needs
Technical transfer is not always the most effective or appropriate solution to a management need. Before beginning a technical transfer effort, verify that technical transfer is appropriate for your situation by considering the questions below. You do not need to meet all of these conditions, but if any of these “enabling conditions” are absent, you may need to consider additional approaches to strengthen your effort. Additional detail on each consideration, and suggestions for how to address gaps in each area, is included in Table 1 of the Technical Transfer Planning Worksheet.
Checklist to Determine if Tech Transfer is Appropriate
☐ Data, science, or other information can influence the management need (i.e., it is not dictated by policy, law, regulation, etc.).
☐ A sufficient volume of actionable information (science, data, traditional or local knowledge, etc.) exists to inform management need.
☐ You have relationships, trust, and credibility with an audience that can influence decisions or actions related to the management need.
☐ The social and administrative conditions exist to set your effort up for success. Your audience is ready to act.
☐ Your team has the capacity (time and skills) to address at least some technical transfer barriers for this management need.
Resources for Step 2
- The Technical Transfer Planning Worksheet contains additional details on the checklist featured above.
- A Toolkit for Coproducing Actionable Science to Support Public Land Management
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③ DEVELOP A TECHNICAL TRANSFER APPROACH
Tailor your approach to your audience’s needs and desired outcomes
Selecting an approach for your technical transfer effort is about increasing your audience’s proficiency in a focused, engaging, and participatory way. The Proficiency Pyramid (Figure 2) can be used to calibrate your effort and set expectations for your audience’s desired knowledge or skill level related to their management need. Ideally, the audience is specific. However, especially on lower levels of the Proficiency Pyramid, it may be broad. Further up the pyramid you go, the more time and effort it takes for effective technical transfer and the narrower your audience.
There is no one-size-fits-all technical transfer approach. Each effort should center its audience’s management need, social, cultural, and institutional context, decision process, and level of knowledge or skills. There are many potential formats for technical transfer (Figure 3), each with tradeoffs in time investment, specificity, and breadth of reach to your audience.
Key Questions to Develop a Technical Transfer Approach
3A. What does success look like for this effort
3B. Where do you want your audience to land on the Proficiency Pyramid (Figure 2) after technical transfer?
3C. What are the learning outcomes or the main take-home messages for your audience? What do you want them to walk away with?
3D. How will you filter, distill, and integrate information from the existing body of knowledge? Can you combine forces with experts or other technical transfer efforts that focus on this management need?
3E. What format(s) will likely fit your management need, audience, and desired proficiency level(s) (Figures 2 & 3)? Can you include interactive peer-to-peer learning or other best practices?
3F. Who are the most effective messengers for your audience? Are there opportunities to collaborate with people who have trust and credibility with the audience and sufficient knowledge to carry out the technical transfer?
Resources for Step 3
DURING TECHNICAL TRANSFER…
④ IMPLEMENT TECHNICAL TRANSFER
Follow your technical transfer approach and use best practices for a successful technical transfer effort
- Keep centered on the “why?” of the management need throughout.
- Empower your audience, don’t just educate. After all, “telling ain’t training”! Where possible, seek opportunities to facilitate peer-to-peer learning, spark conversation among colleagues, and foster relationship-building among participants that will extend beyond the technical transfer effort. Integrate hands-on or other interactive activities as much as possible, and consider using multiple formats or approaches that address varying learning styles (Figure 3).
- Focus on what the audience really needs to know. Be aware of information overload. Understand that adults learn best when information provides a personal benefit, relates to their experience, and can be used immediately. Rely on your 3-4 main messages, and reinforce them repeatedly. Use plain language when possible and always define acronyms.
- Come prepared but be flexible. Ensure you have adequate capacity for facilitation and other needs to make the technical transfer run smoothly, especially for in-person events. Build flexibility into your approach to adapt to your audience’s needs. For example, in a workshop or webinar, leave a buffer for extra time for discussion in case it is needed.
- For more tips and examples see our paper Crossing the Chasm: Using Technical Transfer to Bridge Science Production and Management Action and 5 Ways to Engage with Your Technical Transfer Audience.
Resources for Step 4
AFTER TECHNICAL TRANSFER…
⑤ REFLECT ON YOUR SUCCESS AND THE NEED FOR NEXT STEPS
Assess how you did and what’s next
After a technical transfer effort or event, take a few minutes to document successes, challenges and lessons learned. For a structured set of questions you can use our Reflection Worksheet or simply consider the prompts below.
Best practices for implementing a technical transfer effort include:
- Assessing how your outcomes measured up to the vision of success you set before the effort was underway. Did your audience meet your desired learning outcomes or internalize the key take-home messages? For longer-term outcomes, are concepts being carried forward into the day-to-day work of your audience? Is there an increase in technical tools or a common language being used among your audience, where applicable?
- Considering your audience’s view of the effort’s success and potential for building and maintaining relationships. Are there opportunities to strengthen relationships with your audience, and would they work with you again?
- Evaluating if additional steps are needed to achieve success. Have you identified new technical transfer needs through your effort? Do you have any new information relevant to your effort? Is more support needed to increase the audience’s proficiency and confidence in the topic? Do you have the capacity to keep working on the topic?
- Reflecting on what went well and what you would do differently next time, including formal or informal ways to evaluate your effort. Consider using our Technical Transfer Reflection Worksheet to debrief with your team and document your lessons learned to benefit others working on tech transfer.