KNOWLEDGE TRANSFERS AND R&D MANAGEMENT: AN INQUIRY INTO THE PROBLEM OF TRANSATLANTIC COMPLEMENTARITIES

Innovation is not simply a body of practice but also a body of behaviors, a complex frameset of interactions, learning processes and co-evolution between actors and institutions. This paper elaborates on the opposition between cooperative-learning and competitive-learning situations and on three knowledge levels in technology diffusion: technical, systemic and strategic. It inquires into some aspects of transatlantic cooperation from the perspectives drawn by knowledge-based analyses of R&D management. Illustrations are drawn from defense aeronautics (the JSF F-35 fighter jet and the F/A 18 fighter attack jet). The paper stresses the importance of the emergence of a 'big picture' in S&T policies and delineates the strategies associated with knowledge transfers in international cooperation among the participants (industry and state) in the programs.