Innovation performance of the firms that have cooperated with universities and research institutes in Spain

Abstract

This study compares the innovation performance of the firms that have succeeded in developing product innovations in cooperation with universities with the performance of those that have done so in cooperation with research institutes. The performance of these two groups is further compared with the group of firms that have cooperated with other types of partners. The results show no differences between the innovation performance of the first two groups of firms, while the firms in these two groups outperformed those that have cooperated with other partners in introducing products that were new to the market. These results are maintained for both SMEs and large firms, although large firms are more likely to have cooperated with universities and research institutes. These results validate considering universities and research institutes as a joint category in empirical studies, and they distinguish cooperation with both types of institutions from cooperation with other partners