This book represents a timely initiative. In recent years, collaborations in
research and development have gained enormous importance for innovation and technology diffusion, and have therefore gained the attention of
managers, economists and policy makers. This new form of organization
of research activity is a quite effective way to share knowledge, gain complementary assets and generate new technologies in most sectors where
advancement is rapid. Therefore it has become the focus of European and
national policies in support of innovation and technology diffusion.
The work by Yannis Caloghirou, Nicholas Vonortas and Stavros
Ioannides and their co-authors addresses the relevant topic of collaborations in research and development at two complementary levels. First, it
focuses on their determinants, performance and impact through a survey
of more than 500 companies in seven European countries and through case
studies on several research joint ventures. Second, it examines public policy
in support of R&D cooperation in various European countries and by
doing that it emphasizes similarities and differences.
Thus the book represents a very rich and insightful analysis of the characteristics of collaborations in research. It is very documentative and provides a useful evaluation for the researcher and the policy maker. In order
to examine collaborations it not only combines successfully various complementary databases with survey and case studies. It also maintains a comparative perspective in looking at the ways firms collaborate and at the role
of national innovation systems within Europe.
The conclusion that one can draw from this work is that research collaborations are now a pervasive and diffused way to get access to knowledge
and generate innovation, but that firms differ widely in the motivations for
collaborations and the benefits gained, and governments follow a wide
variety of policies in this respect. All these differences have to be well
known and understood by the researcher and the policy maker. No doubt
this book greatly advances our understanding about the characteristics and
policy aspects of collaborations in R&D. And this understanding becomes
particularly relevant when the new Sixth Framework Programme moves
Europe towards the creation of an integrated Research Area