Research and Development Limited Partnerships (RDLPs) and Their Significance for Innovation

摘要

The nature and impact of research and development limited partnerships (RDLP's) are examined by considering four factors: source of funds, size of transaction, distribution among technical fields, and the source of technology. While early RDLP's were funded by wealthy individuals and some corporations, more recently there has been a steady increase in RDLP's funded by 'blind pools' organized by major investment houses. Funds raised result in actual R&D partnership expenditures that are leveling off at approximately $500 million annually. Although the figure is just 1 percent of all expenditures on research and development by small to medium-sized companies, which receive about 90 percent of the funds paid out by RDLP's. The advantages of RDLP's are flexibility and ability to respond to market conditions. RDLP's broaden the options available for financing U.S. industrial research and development and have emphasized newer high technology areas such as biotechnology, computers, and medical research. About 95 percent of RDLP's are used to facilitate the development and commercialization of potential products rather than to generate new business lines through long term research.