More Bang for your Buck: A Roadmap to Targeted Dissemination.
| Government sponsors and principal investigators are under increasing pressure to communicate new research findings to a wide variety of stakeholders, including scholars in other disciplines, professional practitioners, manufacturers, policy makers, brokers and even lay consumers. Yet, there is typically no additional time or funding allocated to accomplish this formidable task. |  |
The Center on KT4TT is exploring a strategy called Knowledge Value Mapping to reach these many and varied stakeholders. This involves identifying a national organization representing one or more of the intended target audiences. Then interviewing a representative to understand how that organization seeks, identifies, integrates and communicates new findings from research studies. With that “value map” for knowledge use in place, one can design a strategy for translating the findings within the value system of the target audience, through the national organization as the intermediary.
A series of comparative case studies represented an example applied within the field of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). The results showed that all of these organizations not only value research-based findings, but respect the contributions of the original investigator. Researchers have an opportunity to serve as expert consultants to such organizations. In turn, national organizations can function as effective mediators in the flow of knowledge from investigators to various stakeholders.
The full study was published in Implementation Science and is available through open access: http://www.implementationscience.com/content/6/1/106/. The study was summarized in FOCUS Technical Brief No. 32 and is also freely available: http://www.ncddr.org/kt/products/focus/focus32/
Value Mapping has a long history in business marketing. Barry Bozeman and Juan Rogers of Georgia Tech modified the concept to fit the context of communicating research to non-traditional audiences. Barry Bozeman, Daniel Sarewitz and others have since expanded the concept to address Public Value Mapping, as an approach for analyzing knowledge flows and collectives: http://www.cspo.org/products/rocky/CSPO_Rockefeller_Vol1.pdf
KT4TT IP Webcast Featured by Technology Transfer Tactics 
Technology Transfer Tactics, the monthly advisor on best practices in technology transfer, recently featured one of the KT4TT’s latest webcasts in their eNews Platinum newsletter. Presented by James Leahy of the Center on KT4TT, this one-hour webcast provides valuable information on intellectual property (IP) for inventors, researchers and technology developers. Specific topics include information to help identify if and when IP protection is needed; the type of IP protection best suited to an invention; and the processes associated with the three main types of patent applications. The webcast audio/video and Power Point™ materials and a transcript can be downloaded at no cost at: http://www.ncddr.org/webcasts/webcast29.html. This webcast complements the KT4TT’s Intellectual Property Training Modules, which are also freely available for download from the KT4TT website at: http://kt4tt.buffalo.edu/publications/index.php
