This paper evaluates the effectiveness of national and international R&D support programmes on firms' technology … scouting, defined as firms' use of external knowledge sources. Drawing on a unique dataset on R&D support programmes for small … unobserved firm heterogeneity. Empirical results indicate that R&D support programmes have heterogenous effects on technology …

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of national and international R&D support programmes on firms' technology … scouting, defined as firms' use of external knowledge sources. Drawing on a unique dataset on R&D support programmes for small … unobserved firm heterogeneity. Empirical results indicate that R&D support programmes have heterogenous effects on technology …

proposes a definition of Technology Scouting, a generic process, and identifies the motivations of the actors in the process. …, all aiming at identifying opportunities and threats arising from advances in technology. In this respect, Technology … Scouting is a method which can lower the time lag between the advances in technology and their detection by methods such as …