Geographical or Relational: What drives technology-specific R&D collaboration networks?

R&D collaboration networks enable rapid access to global sources of knowledge, especially in strongly knowledge-based and technology-driven industries. However, technological idiosyncrasies require a refined picture, in particular, when explaining the interplay between geographical and relational effects driving the constitution and dynamics of R&D collaboration networks. We employ a spatial interaction modelling approach to estimate how geographical separation and network structural effects influence technology-specific R&D collaborations between European regions. The results underline both the significance of geographical barriers and network structural effects and confirm that specific network connectivity is able to compensate for geographical barriers-throughout all technologies investigated, although the effects differ in magnitude. However, when two regions are dissimilar in their network centrality, the potential to reduce negative geographical effects is relatively lower.