What is the difference between technology licensing and technology transfer? What is the role of patents in these cases?

Technology licenses allow an organisation or person to make use of some technology that might be protected by a variety of intellectual property, including patents. It is primarily involved in the act of permitting a target organisation to do something with the permission of the grantor of the license. It can have an up-skilling function, but that is generally secondary to the licensing of the rights themselves.

Technology transfer is a broader concept that seeks to enable a target organisation to up-skill on a technology. It could involve a technology license as well (including patents), but its primary focus is to educate a target organisation in a technology to either get a product to market or to create an industry or an academic impetus.