This paper attempts to explore the extent in which inter-firm co-operation has emerged for the development of new products in Spain. The basic building block of recent theorizing on technological change is that innovation is a firm-based process. In spite of the central role business organizations play, innovation does not take place in isolation; firms themselves form extensive and intense networks of different types, through their interaction with different economic and institutional actors. We aim to examine the set of factors that shape inter-firm co-operation, including a set of internal technological and managerial capabilities as well as external and institutional factors fostering or inhibiting co-operation. Basically, we are interested in the phenomena that is the result of the firm’s behavior in specific contexts related to product development. We shall refer to the empirical evidence provided by firms that have been engaged in product development through co-operation. In this first draft we shall focus on the preliminary findings emerging from a specific questionnaire set up for international comparative purposes.

We thanks the financial support for the project received from the CICYT (Spanish Interministerial Commission for Science and Technology. We also acknowledge the help provided by the CDTI and the Ministerio de Industria y Energía