Does Distance still Matter in Intra-European Partnerships? An Analysis of R&D Cooperation in Biotechnology

The objective of this article is to evaluate the influence of several dimensions of distance on the choice of partners for R&D cooperation. The empirical study is based on a sample of 1.502 agreements signed by European firms operating in biotechnology. The results show that distance still matters in intra-European cooperation. In particular, administrative, geographic, economic and technological distance appears to play a key role, whereas cultural distance does not seem to influence the choice of partners.