Table 5 Organizational characteristics of university technology transfer organizations at Tsinghua University during the 1980s–1990s

1. Degree of discipline specialization

Discipline integrated: It provides services of university-industry technology transfer in many disciplines

Discipline specialized: It focuses on three domains: mechanical, electrical, and computer science.

2. Degree of task specialization

Backward integrated: Tasks include project management, technology consultation, making science and technology strategies for the university, and science and technology information publication.

Forward integrated: It aims at technological product development, production, and sales in the three fields mentioned above.

3. Level of autonomy

Independent: aiming to be legally independent, to address lawsuits, thus trying to relieve the university from possible legal disputes. Its expenditure and personnel were from Tsinghua University.

Dependent: It was founded as an enterprise but without independent legal status and fully controlled by Tsinghua University.

4. Degree of exclusivity

Exclusive: Serves for Tsinghua University exclusively.

Exclusive: Commercialization of technology only in certain areas of Tsinghua University.

5. Professionalization

Low level: Staffed with researchers with engineering background or with scientific project management experience, with less experience in commercializing technology to the market.

Low level: The initial staff members were mainly from the Science and Technology Development Services and researchers from different faculties of Tsinghua University. Most staff members had a university degree in engineering or science, with little work experience in scientific project or firm management

6. Standardization

High level: The university issued six regulations concerning the management of technology transfer contracts, the application procedure, and the approval reviewer forms during 1985–1995 to standardize the management of "horizontal" scientific projects (with funding from the enterprises).

Low level: No regulations were made on university-run enterprises until “the Regulations of University-run Enterprises in Tsinghua University” were issued in 1993, followed by other relevant regulations formulated up to 1998. Thus, the earlier university-run enterprises remained at a low level of standardization in 1980s.