International R&D cooperation within the EU Framework Programme: empirical evidence for Spanish firms

Abstract

This work aims to explain which factors determine the participation of Spanish companies in R&D consortia within the EU's Framework Programme (FP), considering that the probability that a firm takes part must be regarded as the result of a two-phase process. First, the firm decides whether to apply for an FP cooperation project or not and secondly, the project is approved or rejected. The empirical results confirm that the probability of application depends on some firm-specific variables such as its commercial presence in foreign markets, its absorptive capacity regarding incoming spillovers and its prior experience in FP proposals. With regard to the proposal award, variables related to coordination capability (leader capacity, geographical distance among partners and prior experience in R&D cooperation) are valuable determinants.