Distinct spatial characteristics of industrial and public research collaborations: Evidence from the 5th EU Framework Programme

TL;DR

This paper investigates how geographical separation influences cross-region R&D collaborations in the EU, revealing that industry collaborations are more geographically constrained than public research, with technological distance being a key factor for both.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of spatial characteristics of industrial and public research collaborations using EU data, highlighting the differing impacts of geography.

Findings

Geographical factors significantly influence industrial R&D networks.

Public research collaborations are less affected by geography.

Technological distance is crucial for both sectors.

Abstract

This study compares the spatial characteristics of industrial R&D networks to those of public research R&D networks (i.e. universities and research organisations). The objective is to measure the impact of geographical separation effects on the constitution of cross-region R&D collaborations for both types of collaboration. We use data on joint research projects funded by the 5th European Framework Programme (FP) to proxy cross-region collaborative activities. The study area is composed of 255 NUTS-2 regions that cover the EU-25 member states (excluding Malta and Cyprus) as well as Norway and Switzerland. We adopt spatial interaction models to analyse how the variation of cross-region industry and public research networks is affected by geography. The results of the spatial analysis provide evidence that geographical factors significantly affect patterns of industrial R&D collaboration, while in the public research sector effects of geography are much smaller. However, the results show that technological distance is the most important factor for both industry and public research cooperative activities.