Co-operation in regional innovation systems

The paper deals with co-operative relationships of manufacturing firms in three German regions. By applying a hurdle-count data model, differences between regions as well as between smaller and larger firms are analysed. The differences between regions regarding the propensity of firms to co-operate are mainly due to peculiarities of the small business sector. Spatial proximity is obviously of particular importance for horizontal co-operation and for relationships to publicly funded research institutions. The link between the cooperative behaviour of firms and the performance of the regional innovation system remains, however, unclear.