ABSTRACT
Objective and rationale The primary objective of this chapter is to examine the extent to which firms that have participated in European Community (EC) funded projects or in making non-selected proposals for EC funding (nonselected applicants) have been involved subsequently in further collaborative activities and to investigate the nature of these activities. For the first time a detailed analysis is made of the behaviour of non-selected applicants. The rationale of the chapter is to examine whether and the extent to which, by supporting cooperative research and development (R&D) activities, the Commission of the European Communities’ (CEC’s) objective to achieve an increase in industrial competitiveness is reinforced by an indirect beneficial effect on competitiveness from a stimulation of subsequent collaborative activities.
