Technology transfer and innovation: exploring the multifaceted nature of this interaction

A key component in the success of industrial firms is the extent of their innovativeness. In recent decades, as a result of intense international competition, fragmented and demanding markets and rapidly changing technologies, companies are more and more recognising the importance of the ‘technology transfer’ process to benefit from the innovations introduced into the market. Moving from this increasing importance attributed to the technology transfer, the purpose of this special issue is to shed light on the main issue related to this matter. We begin this introductory paper by providing a brief overview of some theoretical reasons underlying the undeniable relevance of technology transfer for both companies and the society as a whole. We then introduce the six papers that are included in the special issue, thus revealing their respective contributions and their advancement of existing knowledge.