New analytical approaches and empirical evidence continue to shed light on the issue of corporate R&D. The papers in this special issue, which were originally presented at the conference Role and Dynamics of Corporate R&D (Seville, 8-9 October 2007), offer a sample of such approaches and...

The paper investigates the effects of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on corporate research and development (R&D) strategies using Community Innovation Survey data on the Dutch manufacturing sector. The focus of the research is whether M&A affect corporate innovation strategies, favouring...

We show that the value maximizing hurdle rate for research and development (R&D) investments among private firms operating in a market setting is less than for conventional investments despite the fact that R&D has development risk. Because development risk arises only during R&D, entrepreneurs...

Increasingly, economists concur that innovation processes are far from equilibrium phenomena. Indeed, these processes are characterized by complex qualitative changes in the relations between producers, sellers and users, from which new products and new markets emerge. In order to understand...

This paper examines the effect of participation in government-sponsored R&D consortia on the R&D productivity of firms in the case of robot technology in Japan. We attempt to provide a new empirical analysis and discussions on the issue of government project evaluation by investigating the...

This paper is based on an application of the complex systems approach to economics with the objective of exploring the micro- and meso-mechanisms of development. Under this approach, innovation can be seen as an emergent property that depends on micro interaction and on specificities of macro...

This paper analyzes the recent experience of Taiwan's information technology (IT) industry to explore the challenges and opportunities faced by a small economy that is deeply integrated into global networks of production and innovation. I introduce a conceptual framework to examine how...

Using data from a survey of 769 firms, this paper provides empirical evidence of the nature of innovation and its determinants within knowledge intensive business services (KIBS). The aim of the paper is to analyse how KIBS innovate and whether they innovate differently in three Canadian...

Policy makers in both the USA and Europe are aware of the necessity to stimulate the employment as well as the performance of scientists and engineers. This issue includes a selection of papers on both topics, bringing together labour economists as well as economists who do research on...

This paper examines the nature and structure of particular types of networks, i.e. policy-driven collaborative research networks. More specifically, it analyses the emerging networks formed under the fourth, fifth, and sixth EU Framework Programmes in the area of Information Society...