Cognitive distance in research collaborations

This paper addresses the cognitive dimension of proximity/distance in research collaborations of small biotechnology firms. While the theory of optimal cognitive distance assumes learning as motive of collaborations, we suggest that small specialised firms or sub-units of big diversified organizations tend to collaborate with actors endowed with different specific knowledge, with the purpose of accessing rather than acquiring and assimilating the pieces of knowledge they lack. This leads to the expectation of high cognitive distance between collaborators, who however can understand each other since they share the same basic knowledge. We apply this framework to investigate the research collaborations of a sample of Italian biotech firms, using data on the papers co-authored by individuals belonging to different organizations. In order to measure cognitive distance at a very disaggregated level, we introduce an index originally developed by ecologists to measure distance between different species. As expected, most co-publishing partners have high cognitive distance. Moreover, the knowledge accessing motive is also consistent with the finding that even small firms often engage in extensive networks of collaborations with a remarkable variety of actors and do not tend to enlarge their scope over time.