Collaboration dynamics and knowledge transfer in innovation networks: a pre-specified blockmodelling analysis

Collaboration networks linking firms, universities and local governments have been considered the loci of innovation since the 1990s. In recent years, a number of policy interventions were put in place to favor the development of such innovation networks throughout Europe. In Italy, for instance, an increasing number of Technological Districts (TD) was established by the government in mid-2000. The paper probes this public policy with the lens of network analysis to understand the evolutionary patterns of research collaborations within a TD located in Southern Italy. Yearly changes in the network of co-participation in R&D projects between 2005 and 2012 are examined. The main assumption of the study is that knowledge transfer between specialized research groups is an essential precondition of innovation. We use pre-specified blockmodelling to explore whether this process is occurring testing a core-periphery model, in which the core is defined by the actors that similarly bridge specialized research groups. Results show that the core-periphery model explains the collaboration network between organizations particularly well at the early stages of the TD development. Over time, however, cores rapidly increase, indicating an intensification of collaboration in projects within the district an the emergence of new hubs. Moreover, cores progressively change their composition: from a structure dominated by public research centers to the inclusion of public and private research centers, firms as well as international partners.