Beyond their function of protecting and rewarding innovation, patents are increasingly used as mediation instruments and as vehicles for interactions. Focusing on the development of new, genetically engineered vaccines, we show that they are central components of the production of innovation. A...

This paper investigates how technological distance between firms affects their network of R&D alliances. Our theoretic model assumes that the benefit of an alliance between two firms is given by their technological distance. This benefit-distance relationship determines the ego-network of each...