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1. Introduction
There is a high risk of R & D-based innovation being commercialized, especially in the innovation transfer process which is a concern to many entrepreneurs and researchers. R & D investment is key to creating knowledge and gaining competitive advantage. Therefore, R & D is one of the most important indicators at innovation level (Raymond and St-Pierre, 2010). A Thailand Development Research Institute study reveals that organizations which are subject to frequent and fast changing markets should invest in R & D. Successful branded companies invest up to 22 percent of annual sales in R & D, whereas design companies invest up to 16 percent in R & D and Original Equipment Manufacturers only allocate 5 percent budget to R & D. It is unavoidable that Thai entrepreneurs conduct R & D for self-developed innovation (Tangkitvanich, 2013). R & D investment in Thailand has been at a low level for the last decade (gross domestic expenditure on R & D per gross domestic product (GDP)=0.024 percent). Moreover, 60 percent of research production falls under the responsibility of a governmental section (Thailand National Science Technology and Innovation Policy Office, 2013). Thai research institutes focus on basic research; hence, the developed technology does not fit the industrial demand. This results in a low rate of R & D commercialization (Karaveg et al. , 2014). Hence, there is a need to develop R & D commercialization capability criteria, particularly in Thailand.
R & D commercialization must rely on technology transfer as the crucial mechanism to create university-industry linkages. This will stipulate organization learning, R & D usage, and improve innovation capacity (Mu and Benedetto, 2011; Chiesa et al. , 2009). R & D transfer relies on formal legal processes, such as patents, ownership transfer agreements, and also informal processes such as research distribution, consultancy, and personal connections (Raesfeld et al. , 2012). The process of research transfer and development is a complicated interaction between research institutes and innovation seekers. Moreover, they have different points of view concerning R & D evaluation. Researchers have focussed on technology newness, while entrepreneurs have highlighted market demand. Currently, interaction between the technology owners and technology transferees is absent, with only the transfer level focussing on machines and equipment rather...