ANALYSIS OF THE WEBSITES OF THE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OFFICES OF BRAZILIAN FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES

One of the main communication channels between a Transfer Technology Office (TTO) and its audience is through websites; however, there are few studies addressing their development in terms of architecture, content, and usability. The present study is the first to analyze the websites of NITs at all Brazilian federal universities and presents findings that can enhance their quality. A panel of experts defined 47 criteria and their respective weights, ranking the websites from both academic and business perspectives. It was found that most websites do not offer information on the legal possibilities of contracts with companies; are heavily focused on patents; do not follow good usability practices and have incomplete content; thus, this study provides a diagnosis and suggests practical improvements for the enhancement of TTO websites.