The influence of proximity dimensions on international research collaboration: an analysis of European water projects

In this paper we investigate the effect of geographical, organisational and social proximity on the propensity of organisations to collaborate internationally in knowledge production. We apply logistic regression models on data from water research projects in the European Union's Framework Programme 1-7. Although the main challenges in the water sector typically cut across borders, knowledge development is traditionally organised in national systems. These systems have a long tradition in collaborating across societal sectors. Despite the fact that about half of the collaborations in the Framework Programmes are not proximate at all, we show that all three proximity dimensions contribute to the propensity to collaborate. The three dimensions of proximity are weakly correlated, and there is a small substitution effect between organisational and geographical proximity.