FROM MANAGING INFORMATIONAL ASYMMETRIES TOWARDS A SYSTEMIC ASYMMETRIES APPROACH IN TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: A CRITIQUE BASED ON THE SME STRATEGY AT ONERA – THE FRENCH AEROSPACE LABTM

Florin Paun, Nick von Tunzelmann () and Philippe Richard ()
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Nick von Tunzelmann: University of Sussex (SPRU - Science and Technology Policy Research)
Philippe Richard: ONERA (French Aerospace lab)

No 237, Working Papers from Laboratoire de Recherche sur l'Industrie et l'Innovation. ULCO / Research Unit on Industry and Innovation

Abstract: The technology transfer process between a public laboratory and a company has been the subject of many publications and has been widely discussed in economic theory. This paper highlights several newly identified asymmetries occurring between the different agents taking part in the process, dealing specifically with the aerospace and defense sectors in France. These specificities concern the characteristics, capabilities and competencies (the „capacities?) of French SMEs and public research laboratories. The theoretical corpus of the article draws partly upon the analyses of „dynamic and interactive capabilities? (and competencies), and for the rest upon empirical sources, being based on the recent experience of one of the most dynamic Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) in France: the case of ONERA (the National Office for Aerospace Studies and Research) and the SMEs. In such a cooperative, interactive innovation process, we will show that certain collaborative tools or practices emerge, aimed at reducing information asymmetries or acting as compensation mechanisms for other types of asymmetries between the partners at a microeconomic level; especially in France where there is a gap between the public R&D laboratories and the SMEs in terms of Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs). Some of these compensation mechanisms, particularly those related to the knowledge economy, could be adapted and reshaped for agents engaged in R&D and innovation in various other sectors, perhaps inducing positive amplification effects on innovation behavior, and thereby on economic growth at the macroeconomic level within the “national innovation system”.

Keywords: French SMEs; technology transfer; information asymmetries; innovation systems; ONERA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O31 O52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2011-03
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Published in Cahiers du Lab.RII, March 2011

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rii:riidoc:237

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