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Patterns of Collaborations between Regional Firms and Universities: Evidence from the Piedmont region in Italy

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This paper explores the factors affecting firms’ decisions concerning whether to collaborate with universities in their region or elsewhere, and the level of investment in the collaboration. Building upon an original survey of a representative sample of firms in the Italian region of Piedmont, the paper examines the effect of firm and collaboration characteristics (including the type and diversity of each collaboration’s objectives) on the location of the university partners and on the investment in university-industry collaborations. We find that firms that are smaller, less engaged in international markets, less vertically integrated, and that engage in collaborations with universities in order to solve organizational problems, tend to collaborate more with regional universities. Firms tend to invest more in collaborations focused only on R&D activities with nearby universities, though the maximum amount spent in a collaboration was with a foreign university.

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  • Bodas Freitas Isabel Maria & Geuna Aldo & Rossi Federica, 2011. "Patterns of Collaborations between Regional Firms and Universities: Evidence from the Piedmont region in Italy," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201105, University of Turin.
    • Handle: RePEc:uto:labeco:201105
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    1. Maietta, Ornella Wanda, 2014. "The Roles of Research at Universities and Public Labs in Innovation Systems: a Perspective from the Italian Food and Drink industry," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182812, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Maietta, Ornella Wanda, 2015. "Determinants of R&D University-Frim Collaboration and Its Impact on Innovation: a Perspective from the Italian Food and Drink Industry," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 225668, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Gustavo da Cruz & Nathália Bezerra & João Vitor Mendes, 2017. "Brazilian Universities Incubators: A Panorama from Activities and GDP Perspective," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(2), pages 111-111, January.
    4. Ornella Wanda Maietta, 2014. "Innovation Systems Research in the Italian Food Industry," CSEF Working Papers 358, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    5. Maietta, Ornella Wanda, 2015. "Determinants of university–firm R&D collaboration and its impact on innovation: A perspective from a low-tech industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(7), pages 1341-1359.

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