La coopétition en R&D : une étude à partir de données de co-inventions

Coopetition is the simultaneity of competitive and cooperative interactions between firms. In R&D, coopetition is sometimes revealed by co-patenting. We extend the classical studies on the subject by introducing the concept of reticular coopetition, which includes bilateral intra-industry cooperation as well as all the other R&D cooperation relationships that the actors concerned deploy. This allows us to characterize coopetition at the industry level. We show that what distinguishes these industries are not necessarily the intensities of recourse to this form of relationship, but the structures they take. We use the conceptual basis and typology of Bouvier-Patron (2011) to characterize these structures and we propose a method based on network theory for their identification, representation and analysis. We apply this method to the pharmaceutical and automotive industries over the period 2011-2016 using patent data from the COR&DIP and PATSTAT databases. JEL classification: L10, O32.