This study investigates the effects of convergence of science and technology on innovation impact, specifically how convergence helps R&D organizations to apply scientific knowledge to their R&D activities. In addition to direct effects of convergence, we address the moderating effects of scientific capacity, knowledge spillover, and knowledge maturity from the knowledge side. The empirical analysis, which employs a zero inflated negative binomial regression model uses data on 2074 patents granted to US organizations from the pharmaceutical industry. The results show that an increase in the proportion of scientific knowledge in convergence has a positive and curvilinear relationship with innovation impact. Also, we find that the organization's scientific capacity, regional scientific knowledge spillover, and knowledge maturity positively moderate the relationship between convergence and innovation impact. Our findings underline the importance of convergence between science and technology as well as provide implications on how to improve the outcome of an organization's research and development process.

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Government research and development (R&D) subsidies are more important in countries that are latecomers to the biotechnology industry, where venture capital has not been developed, and the ratio of start-ups is high. Previous studies have mostly focused on the additionality of the input and output through government R&D subsidies, such as private R&D investment, technological innovation, and financial performance. In addition, some studies have focused on the behavioral additionality (the change in a firm’s behavior) of firms through government R&D subsidies. However, each study is fragmented and does not provide integrated results and implications. Therefore, this study comprehensively investigated the effects of government R&D subsidies on the multifaceted aspects of input, output, and behavioral additionality based on data from South Korean biotechnology companies. This study used the propensity score matching (PSM) method to prevent selection bias. The results showed that firms benefiting from government R&D subsidies had a markedly higher R&D investment in terms of input additionality, and they produced more technological innovation within a shorter period in terms of output additionality, though financial performance was not determined. Moreover, government R&D subsidies have accelerated strategic alliances and suppressed external financing (debt financing) in terms of behavioral additionality.

To find ways to make the government’s cooperative research and development (R&D) support policy for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) more effective, we analyzed the characteristics of SMEs that prefer such support. Through decision tree and discriminant analysis of 3300 Korean SMEs, we derived rules to distinguish between groups that prefer cooperative R&D support and those that do not. Based on the results, the important influencing factors were found to be the time required for R&D planning, prior experience in cooperation, the availability of equipment, the ratio of self-procured R&D funding, the attempts at R&D and the firm’s level of performance. The results suggested that if the policy objective is to encourage more active involvement of SMEs in cooperative R&D support programs, it is desirable to attract SMEs with less cooperative experience and not to give too much weight to past achievements when selecting beneficiaries. Furthermore, we believe that policies offering supports in the R&D planning stage and the joint utilization of equipment could be solutions to reduce the practical difficulties experienced by SMEs related to cooperative R&D.

Firms, especially those in the knowledge-based economy, make increasing use of external knowledge in their innovation processes. To tap into external knowledge sources, the firm follows a search strategy, which is known to be affected by both endogenous and exogenous factors. This study examines the influence of potential absorptive capacity on firms’ external knowledge search strategy. We also propose and test a moderation effect of the appropriability regime on this relationship. Based on a panel dataset of 170 international firms from various industries, we find a curvilinear relationship between the level of a firm’s potential absorptive capacity and the external knowledge search breadth. We also confirm the moderating role of the appropriability regime on this relationship. Our results highlight the role of the endogenous and exogenous factors determining the firm’s use of external knowledge in the innovation process.