Network formation within the BRITE-EURAM program is investigated. We describe the role of the hub of the network, which is defined as the set of main contractors that account for most of the participations. We study the effects that the conflict of objectives within European research funding between precompetitive research vs. European cohesion has on the formation of networks and on the relationship between different partners of the network. A panel data set is constructed including the second and third framework of the Brite–Euram program. A model of joint production of research results is used to test for changes in the behavior of partners within the two frameworks. The main findings are that participations are very concentrated, that is a small group of institutions account for most of the participations, but going from the second to the third framework the presence of subcontractors and single participants increases substantially. This result is reinforced by the fact that main contractors receive smaller spill-ins within networks, but spill-ins increase from the second to the third framework.
