Potential and partnerships in innovations in EU-funded research projects

We analyse the relationship between the composition of innovation partnerships and the potential of their innovations developed within EU-funded research projects. Innovation potential is assessed using a formal framework... [ view full abstract ]

We analyse the relationship between the composition of innovation partnerships and the potential of their innovations developed within EU-funded research projects. Innovation potential is assessed using a formal framework capturing innovation readiness, management and market potential. Both the analysed innovations and innovators were identified by external experts during periodic Framework Programme reviews. Thus, our population includes participants to the FP7 projects that are considered as key organisations in the project delivering innovations in FP7 projects. We show that the innovative potential of research output of homogeneous partnerships, e.g. between two SMEs or two large companies, is likely to be higher, as compared to heterogeneous partnerships, e.g. an SME and a large company. The impact of universities on the potential of innovations is unclear. The total number of key organizations in delivering an innovation has negative impact on its potential. Neither project funding nor duration affects the potential of innovation. Our results contribute to the discussion on the most appropriate design of R&D consortia of organizations in publically-funded projects.