Cooperative R&D as a means for knowledge creation. Experience from European publicly funded partnerships

This paper explores the performance of cooperative R&D agreements in terms of organisational knowledge creation. A unique dataset of subsidised cooperative R&D agreements is used to provide evidence on the relationship between the benefits from undertaking research cooperation and a set of factors that describe technological and organisational capabilities of firms and constraints arising in the context of cooperation. Findings point to an enhanced notion of absorptive capability as an enabling condition for effective exploitation of firm’s involvement in R&D cooperation.