This paper examines how the institutional set-up of public research organisations (PROs) affects how firms are able to utilise direct interaction with publicly employed researchers. We argue that the role that PRO interaction has to play in the firm’s innovation processes depend on the...

Previous research about firms’ perceptions on the usefulness of public research has not distinguished between technological innovators and non-innovators. With the exception of openness of search, we find that factors shaping such perceptions differ in both types of firms. Non-innovators need...

The use of universities and public research organisations as a source of information is increasing as firms adopt search strategies based on current models of information use. The theory of this paper is that in order to predict companies’ perceptions of the usefulness of such knowledge, their...