The KIVA story: a paradigm of technology transfer

The authors discuss a case history of technology transfer from a government laboratory to industry, to other laboratories, and to universities. The technology transferred is a computer program named KIVA that simulates air flow, fuel sprays, and combustion in practical combustion devices such as a automobile and truck engines, gas turbines that power jet aircraft, and industrial furnaces, heaters, and waste incinerators. The success of the transfer process derives not from presenting a finished product, but rather from working closely with KIVA users at every stage of development. By making the original source code available to a broad user community, a second avenue of transfer occurs as university engineering departments prepare students to enter industry.<
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