Suchergebnisse

Research and innovation partnerships involving firms or firms and public research organizations (PROs) have been increasing over the last twenty years in OECD countries. In this paper we present empirical evidence about the impact of government sponsored R&D programs on firms' partnership strategies related to R&D. Using a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms we estimate the effects of receiving public support on the probability that firms set up an R&D partnership with a PRO or a partnerhsip with other firms that are suppliers or customers. Controling for the endogeneity of participation in R&D support programs, we find that (i) the choice of private-private and of public-private partnerships is associated with different firm characteristics, and (ii) public support encourages directly or indirectly both types of cooperation, but the impact on public-private partnerships is larger. Results suggest that R&D cooperation is affected by market failures, and that public programs subsidizing industryscience links trigger a behavioral change in firms' R&D strategic partnerships.

This paper presents a comparative analysis of factors contributing to the innovation performance of manufacturing firms in Georgia (USA), Wales (UK), the West Midlands (UK), and Catalonia (Spain). Enabled by comparable survey data, multiple probit models are developed to estimate how various types of firms' innovative activities are influenced by links to external knowledge sources, internal resources, absorptive capacity and public innovation support. Our results suggest the potential for mutual learning. For the European study regions there are insights about how universities in Georgia support innovation. For Georgia and Catalonia there are lessons from UK firms about better capturing potential complementarities between innovation activities. Additional implications for innovation measurement and knowledge base development are discussed.