Cooperative R&D and the Canadian forest products industry

✍ Scribed by Masao Nakamura; Harry Nelson; Ilan Vertinsky

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 198 KB
• Volume: 24
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0143-6570
• DOI: 10.1002/mde.1081

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

In the past decade the share of cooperative R&D has increased. In this paper, using a case study of the forest industry in Canada, the antecedents of cooperative R&D and the forms it take are investigated. We show how market failures are corrected in the industry largely through industry wide R&D consortia. The share of government funding to maintain the cooperation reflects the degree to which the consortia can appropriate the full value of their knowledge products (i.e. prevent spillover of innovations to non‐members in Canada and elsewhere). The case study indicates that the prime role of these nationwide consortia is the provision of potential access to R&D expertise, technological intelligence, and technology transfer services. The success and stability of these consortia depend on the degree to which their governance systems allow for better alignment of the costs and benefits that accrue to members from the consortia. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.