THE ROLE OF R&D CONSORTIA IN TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

Vinod Kumar, Technology Management, Carleton University, and Sunder Magun, Centre for Trade Policy and Law, University of Ottawa and Carleton University, under contract to Industry Canada

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 1995)

Technology consortia are technology alliances among business firms, universities and governments. They are formed to share increasingly rising costs and risks associated with undertaking basic or precompetitive research and development (R&D). The alliances are both vertical and horizontal and can include both domestic and foreign companies. In most cases, they are found across such high-tech industries as electronics, computer, aerospace and pharmaceutical sectors. Technical alliances have become an important part of the corporate competitive strategies of high- tech industry leaders such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Northern Telecom and Texas Instruments. Technology consortia are also found in traditional industries such as the textile and automobile sectors.