Using a Structural-Interpretive Model to Rank Innovation and Technology

Innovative universities, in today’s dynamic and economic environment, are essential due to their direct role in the process of national development and generation of wealth. Therefore, and in light of the importance of innovation and technology in development and progress of Tehran Medical Science University, the present study is aimed at using astructural-interpretive model to rank and classify the factors effective on innovation and technology chain. The mode was used to facilitate progress of the university toward innovativeness. Nine categories of the factors effective on innovation and technology chain were determined based on interviews with experts (10 university professors selected purposefully from the study population) and literature review. Afterward, relevance and influence of these factors on each other were determined based on the expert’s feedbacks and implementation of the structural-interpretive model and based on which the factors were categorized into five categories. The results showed that the three factors of using the resources, foreign investment and borrowing, and acquiring knowledge and transfer of technology were at the bottom of the list with a satisfactorily penetration power to motivate development of innovation in the university. Managers and planners can use the results of this study to develop more efficient plans