Comparative analysis of university-government-enterprise co-authorship networks in three scientific domains in the region of Madrid

For some time now, the relationship between university and private enterprise has been receiving increasing attention, both from research policy planners and managers, with a view to enhancing cooperation, and from researchers analysing and seeking to improve and make such collaboration more effective through networking. The European Union’s Sixth Framework Programme, for instance, designed a scenario with the explicit purpose of increasing and strengthening interconnections among the various research sectors participating in and leading the European Research Area. The Seventh Framework Programme includes a specific programme, called Cooperation, whose purpose is to further and support cooperation among universities, private enterprise, research centres and public authorities (European Union, 2002, 2006).