Measuring organizational capabilities for technological innovation through a fuzzy inference system

As a result of the strategic and operational management of research in higher education institutions (HEIs), the organizational Technological Innovation Capabilities (TICs) contribute to reaching strategic objectives of transfer of results in research and development (R & D) to society and industry, for this reason, it is necessary to take measurements to identify the index creation and consolidation of organizational capabilities. Despite the importance, theoretically given to the TICs, a great gap is found in the scientific literature regarding the measurements of these capabilities in the higher education sector. In this paper, the results of the implementation of a fuzzy inference diagnostic system for organizational capabilities for innovation in a university institution (UI) in the city of Medellin, Colombia are presented. The system consists of the application of a structured diagnostic instrument - type interviewed-to the management and teaching staff of the institution. The data is adapted to the requirements of a fuzzy inference system, in which previously defined variables are related, their values are standardized and entered in an inference system. The values were implemented and processed in the Fuzzy Logic Toolbox - MATLAB. As inference system output, concrete numerical values, and surfaces of fuzzy inference were obtained to formulate organizational strategies aimed at improving the technological innovation capabilities of the institution. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.