The structure and dynamics of the global network of inter-firm R&D partnerships 1989-2002

This paper examines the structure and dynamics of the global network of inter-firm research and development (R&D) partnerships using longitudinal data for 1989--2002. We contribute to a recent literature that has attributed patterns and changes in the network to major political and technological developments, but which has omitted the structure in the underlying firm population. Two often made claims are that R&D collaboration is important in nowadays fierce competitive environment, but that the importance of international partnerships has declined over time. We integrate data on firms and alliances and confront both hypotheses with our data and a novel set of methods, which enable to control for structure in the firm population.