The public and private spheres of knowledge within the field of space communications

The purpose of this paper is to examine the modalities of the organization of R&D activities between the main institutional sectors (higher-education, government, industry) within the field of space communications in the Triad countries. The analysis of these modalities is complex since the delimitations of the public and private spheres of R&D activities are liable to change depending on whether the funding, the production or the utilization of knowledge is considered. To that end, we show that the principle of an institutional diversity associated with the organisation of R&D activities between these sectors can in fact be questioned. Indeed, the specific logics and pratices of the main institutional sectors become rather interlinked. Implications of this “institutional overlapping” on the dynamic of R&D activities in the field are discussed.