Abstract This study explores the factors that contribute to the commercialization of technologies transferred from universities and public research institutes (U&PRIs) to companies. We take a step further than the established literature focusing on technology transfer to examine factors that also affect the chances of the successful commercialization of the transferred technologies through an empirical analysis of 669 technology transfer cases in Korea. The study shows that the intensity of market competition is a key factor in moderating the effects of partnership and absorptive capacity on the successful commercialization of transferred technologies. While collaboration with U&PRIs exerts a positive effect on commercialization success, this effect is weakened by the intensity of market competition. The intensity of market competition boosts the importance of company absorptive capacity for the commercialization success of the transferred technology. We conclude that strategic management of the absorptive capacities of companies and their partnership with U&PRIs are necessary ingredients of the success of technology transfer in concordance with the intensity of competition that the company faces in the market.