The International Network of R&D Partnerships 1989-2002: Revisiting the Question of its Macro-Level Structure

Abstract

In recent years, the number of research and development (R&D) partnerships between firms has substantially increased. From the perspective of the individual firm, these partnerships are formed in order to share the risks and benefits of R&D. At the macro level, they result in a global spanning network that can be a valuable source of international knowledge spillovers. We study the structure and dynamics of the network on an international and cross-industry scale using longitudinal data for 1989-2002. Our article contributes to a literature that attributes the patterns and changes in this network to major political and technological developments, but which omits the sizes of the underlying firm populations. Two often made claims are that R&D collaboration is an important activity in the recently fierce competitive environment, but that the importance of international partnerships has declined over time. We integrate data on public firms and their R&D partnerships and confront both hypotheses with our data and a set of methods, which enables us to correct for the structure and dynamics in the firm population.