This paper investigates the role of firm’s absorptive capacity and knowledge search strategies in influencing the range of outcomes obtained through their interactions with public research organizations (PROs). Most previous research has reported that interactions with PROs involve firms with high technological capacities, which are able to absorb, and exploit the knowledge transferred. However, little is known about how coordination mechanisms and search strategies could influence the results of the interaction. Moreover, previous research focuses on technological innovation, disregarding other type of results. In this investigation, we include a wider spectrum of outcomes. We study firms that have established some type of formal agreement with CSIC (the Spanish largest PRO) during the period 1999-2010. We obtained a final sample of 799 firms, corresponding to 42% of our target population. Our results show that absorptive capacity and knowledge search strategies matter when taking advantage from interactions with PROs and that these results can be of a diverse nature.