Cooperative Innovation: In Quest of Effective Partners. Evidence from Italian Firms

摘要

In recent years, rapid technological change, shorter product life cycles and globalizationrnhave deeply transformed the current competitive environment. These changes arerninducing firms to face stronger competitive pressures which push them to developrnnew products, improve production processes or implement new technologies. Thus,rnfirms need to continually acquire new knowledge and innovate. At the same time,rnentrepreneurs have become aware that technological innovation is less and less dependentrnon an isolated effort of an individual firm. For small- and medium-sized enterprisesrn(SMEs), R&D cooperation with sources of external knowledge is becomingrnincreasingly essential for fostering innovation activities. Using firm-level data fromrnthe Community Innovation Survey for the years 2006–2008 (CIS 2008) and applyingrna Heckman probit model with sample selection, we analyze the determinants ofrncooperative innovation for the different types of partners (competitors, customers, suppliers,rnuniversities and government laboratories). Results show that internal and externalrnR&D acquisitions, public financial support, as well as belonging to a scientificrnsector or to a business group are significant determinants of choice in collaborations,rnalthough with different magnitude across various types of collaborations.