Towards a Characterization of Assets and Knowledge Created in Technological Agreements : Some Evidence from the Automobile Robotics Sector

This paper is an initial attempt to shed new light on the nature and dynamics of technological agreements based on some cognitive dimensions. The main purpose of such agreements is to create new competencies, and therefore we argue that the nature and characteristics of the knowledge bases that are at the origin of this type of learning process play an essential role in defining the directions and the outcome of learning. In particular, we examine some case studies of agreements between automobile and robotics firms which show a clear link between the degree of generality of the knowledge produced in the agreement and the capacity to explore new learning paths. This explorative capacity also appears to be linked to the ability to generate 'meta-rules' of behaviour