IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT COLLABORATION - CASE-STUDIES AT A US WEAPONS LABORATORY

This paper presents the results of the first systematic case studies o f Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) between pri vate firms and one of the large US weapons laboratories, Lawrence Live rmore National Laboratory (LLNL). These cases cover a diverse array of technologies, and include firms with very different characteristics ( participant firms differ, for example, in their size and internal R&D budgets). They are intended to illustrate the operation of CRADAs in d ifferent settings. Our study suggests that CRADAs between the DOE labo ratories and industry are most effective for projects that draw on the historic missions and capabilities of the laboratories, rather than f or projects that focus on civilian technologies with little relevance to these missions. Efforts to improve the operation of CRADAs must loo k beyond the establishment and assignment of intellectual property rig hts to actions by laboratory and firm personnel in at least four areas : (1) increasing budgetary and managerial flexibility in project opera tions; (2) ensuring a high degree of commitment by the collaborating p arties and continuous interaction between the research teams; (3) impr oving laboratory researchers' familiarity with user needs; and (4) dev eloping sufficient internal R&D and technical expertise within the col laborating firm(s) to absorb and apply the results of collaboration. E valuations of CRADAs that rely on quantitative estimates of the direct benefits of these projects in the immediate aftermath of their comple tion also appear to be unreliable and distorted. (C) 1998 Elsevier Sci ence B.V.