Network heterogeneity, scientific performance and medical innovation

03/06/2016 to 06/06/2016
R&D Management Conference “From Science to Society: Innovation and Value Creation”
Research networks have particular social and economic resonance in the field of biomedical research. This study will investigate how biomedical research networks could better facilitate scientific and technological progress. Specifically, we focus on two aspects: the heterogeneity of institutions where network partners are embedded and the most frequent benefit that individuals obtain from their set of network contacts. Our results indicate that, while network heterogeneity is positively related to technological progress, it exerts a negative effect on scientific discoveries. Moreover, this effect appears to be contingent on the dominant benefit characterizing each network.
Cambridge (UK)
Pablo D'Este, Oscar Llopis, Irene Ramos-Vielba, Alfredo Yegros, Maureen McKelvey