Formation and output of collaborations: the role of proximity in German nanotechnology

Abstract

The development and deployment of technologies depend upon collaborations concurrently relying on proximity between partners. By employing publication data of German nanotechnology, we augment former findings on the relationship between proximity and collaboration in three ways. First, we shed light on how the various forms of proximity affect different stages of collaboration. Particularly, we split geographical proximity into pure physical and systemic proximity. By doing so, we can show that pure physical proximity plays a role early on, as it positively influences the formation of collaborations. In contrast, systemic proximity affects collaborations later on by inducing higher output. Second, innovation systems shape collaboration networks. We learn that specific features of publicly funded German research organizations influence the formation and output of collaborations via organizational proximity or a lack thereof. Third, cognitive proximity has by far the strongest magnitude of effect on both the formation and the output of collaborations. Particularly, existing partnership being cognitively diverse have a lot of potential. Therefore, research policy and university management might consider to stimulating current partnerships, being cognitively different.

Joint university-industry laboratories through the lens of proximity dimensions: moving beyond geographical proximity

“…As can be seen, scholars moved beyond studying geographical proximity in isolation as a single factor and include other proximity dimensions into discourse (Lauvås and Steinmo, 2019;Steinmo and Rasmussen, 2016;Werker et al, 2019), and they all call for more conceptual development of different proximity dimensions and the relationship among them. Yet an old gap is not filled, and it is still unclear which proximity dimensions matter more in which socioeconomic context .…”

Knowledge recombination for emerging technological innovations: The case of green shipping

“…While the proximity literature focuses on the possibility for substitution between spatial and non-spatial forms of proximity (Broekel and Mueller, 2018, Fitjar et al, 2016, Hansen, 2015, Kuttim, 2016, it gives little attention to the possibilities for substitution between different types of non-spatial proximity. However, research results indicate that other non-spatial forms of proximity may facilitate collaboration between cognitively distant partners (Werker et al, 2019). Janssen et al (2019) find that shared organizational membership facilitates collaboration between firms with large cognitive distances.…”

Coğrafi ve Sistemik Yakınlık Üniversitelerde Bilimsel İşbirliğinin İtici Faktörleri Midir? Ar-Ge Projeleri İle Ampirik Bir Çalışma

“…Werker, Korzinov ve Cunningham (2019), çalışmasında alman nanoteknolojisinin yayın verileri ile yakınlık ve işbirliği arasındaki ilişkiyi inceleyerek yakınlık türlerinin işbirliğinin farklı aşamalarını nasıl etkilediğine ışık tutmuştur. Bu doğrultuda çalışmada sistemik yakınlık; Avrupa Birliğinde ekonomik bölgeler NUTS 1, NUTS 2 ve NUTS 3 olacak şekilde İstatistiki Bölgesel Birimler Sınıflandırma (NUTS) sistemi kullanılarak hesaplanmıştır.…”