Does Partner Type Matter in R&D Collaboration for Environmental Innovation?

In the literature on environmental innovations R&D collaborations have been identified as a critical determinant of a firm's environmental innovation performance. However, the literature suggests that R&D collaboration is not always beneficial. Therefore, a more elaborated analysis of the effects of R&D collaborations on a firm's environmental innovation performance is necessary. This paper investigates the impact of R&D collaborations with different partner types such as customers, competitors, suppliers, universities, governmental research institutes, consultants and other firms within the same firm group on a firm's environmental innovation performance. In addition, this paper addresses the question of whether the diversity of R&D collaboration partners is important for the environmental innovation performance. Firm-level data from 2,337 German service and manufacturing firms are used in the regression analysis. The results suggest that R&D collaboration with suppliers, customers, universities, governmental research institutes, consultants and other firms within the same firm group has a significantly positive impact on a firm's environmental innovation performance, whereas collaboration with competitors has no significant impact. The diversity of R&D collaboration partners has a significantly positive impact on a firm's environmental innovation performance.FuE-Kooperationen spielen eine bedeutende Rolle bei der Schaffung von Umweltinnovationen. Allerdings zeigt uns die Literatur, dass FuE-Kooperationen nicht immer vorteilhaft sind. Daher ist eine differenziertere Betrachtungsweise des Einflusses von FuEKooperationen auf die Fähigkeit von Unternehmen, Umweltinnovationen hervorzubringen notwendig. Das Papier untersucht diesen Zusammenhang und differenziert dabei nach verschiedenen Typen von Kooperationspartnern wie Kunden, Lieferanten, Universitäten, staatlichen Forschungseinrichtungen, Konkurrenten, Beratern und anderen Firmen innerhalb der gleichen Firmengruppe. Zudem wird der Frage nachgegangen, ob die Diversität von Kooperationspartnern einen Einfluss auf die Umweltinnovationsfähigkeit von Unternehmen hat. Dabei werden Daten von 2 337 deutschen Unternehmen für eine Regressionsanalyse verwendet. Deutlich wird, dass FuE-Kooperationen mit Kunden, Lieferanten, Universitäten, staatlichen Forschungseinrichtungen, Beratern und anderen Firmen innerhalb der gleichen Firmengruppe einen signifikant positiven Einfluss auf die Umweltinnovationsfähigkeit haben. FuE-Kooperationen mit Konkurrenten haben keinen signifikanten Einfluss. Die Diversität von FuE-Kooperationspartnern hat ebenfalls einen signifikant positiven Einfluss auf die Umweltinnovationsfähigkeit

The Impact of R&D Collaboration Networks on the Performance of Firms and Regions: A Meta-Analysis of the Evidence

Innovation is the result of an interactive process. Knowledge-intensive interactions among different partners are associated with a variety of advantages and disadvantages for the actors involved. Therefore, a rich body of literature investigating the impact of R&D collaboration networks on the innovation performance of firms and regions has developed over the last two decades. Those studies come to different results. The aims of this paper are manifold. First, the paper summarizes the results of the relevant literature. Second, a brief overview of the established methods and approaches used in the literature to investigate this research question is given. The third objective is to answer the question whether the achieved results in the literature are predetermined by the employed methods. Finally, relevant gaps for further research are identified. To answer these questions a meta-analysis of the relevant literature is conducted. This study shows that knowledge-intensive interactions have a rather positive impact on the performance of firms and regions. There is also evidence that the employed methods and approaches used in the literature to investigate this research question predetermine the outcome of the research.Wissensintensive Interaktionen sind mit einer Reihe von Vor- und Nachteilen für die beteiligten Akteure verbunden. Deshalb hat sich ein Literaturstrang entwickelt, welcher der Fragestellung nachgeht, wie sich FuE-Kooperationen auf die Leistungsfähigkeit von Firmen und Regionen auswirken. Diese Studien kommen zu unterschiedlichen Ergebnissen. Das Papier versucht die verschiedenen Ergebnisse der Literatur zusammenzufassen. Ein weiteres Ziel ist es, die in der Literatur verwendeten Methoden zur Bearbeitung der Fragestellung kritisch zu diskutieren. Zudem geht das Papier der Frage nach, inwiefern die in der Literatur verwendeten Methoden und Ansätze die Ergebnisse der Studien beeinflussen. Zur Bearbeitung dieser Fragestellungen wird eine Metaanalyse der relevanten Literatur durchgeführt. Dabei wird gezeigt, dass FuEKooperationen einen positiven Effekt auf die Leistungsfähigkeit von Firmen und Regionen haben. Zudem gibt es starke Evidenz dafür, dass die verwendeten Methoden und Ansätze die Ergebnisse der Studien beeinflussen

Magnetic Properties of Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3/SrRuO3 Superlattices

High-quality Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3/SrRuO3 superlattices were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition and were investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and SQUID magnetometry. Superlattices with orthorhombic and tetragonal SrRuO3 layers were investigated. The superlattices grew coherently; in the growth direction Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 layers were terminated by MnO2- and SrRuO3 layers by RuO2-planes. All superlattices showed antiferromagnetic interlayer coupling in low magnetic fields. The coupling strength was significantly higher for orthorhombic than for tetragonal symmetry of the SrRuO3 layers. The strong interlayer exchange coupling in the superlattice with orthorhombic SrRuO3 layers led to a magnetization reversal mechanism with a partially inverted hysteresis loop.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Orthorhombic to tetragonal transition of SrRuO3 layers in Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3/SrRuO3 superlattices

High-quality Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3/SrRuO3 superlattices with ultrathin layers were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition on SrTiO3 substrates. The superlattices were studied by atomically resolved scanning transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, resistivity and magnetoresistance measurements. The superlattices grew coherently without growth defects. Viewed along the growth direction, SrRuO3 and Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 layers were terminated by RuO2 and MnO2, respectively, which imposes a unique structure to their interfaces. Superlattices with a constant thickness of the SrRuO3 layers, but varying thickness of the Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 layers showed a change of crystalline symmetry of the SrRuO3 layers. At a low Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 layer thickness of 1.5 nm transmission electron microscopy proved the SrRuO3 layers to be orthorhombic, whereas these were non-orthorhombic for a Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 layer thickness of 4.0 nm. Angular magnetoresistance measurements showed orthorhombic (with small monoclinic distortion) symmetry in the first case and tetragonal symmetry of the SrRuO3 layers in the second case. Mechanisms driving this orthorhombic to tetragonal transition are briefly discussed.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figure

Ultra-thin film NbN depositions for HEB heterodyne mixer on Si-substrates

The key of improving hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixer performance lies inevitably in the quality of ultra-thin NbN films itself. This work presents a thorough investigation of crucial process parameters of NbN films deposited by means of reactive DC-sputtering on Si-substrates at elevated temperatures up to 750°C. The polycrystalline NbN films with thickness of 4 to 10nm were characterized by DC resistivity measurements, ellipsometry and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) in order to confirm thickness and film structure. Since the macroscopic properties such as critical temperature, thickness as well as the transition width to the superconducting state are directly linked to HEB mixer noise temperature and IF bandwidth, a set of experiments were conducted to enhance aforementioned properties. We considered deposition temperature, RF biasing, nitrogen and argon partial and total pressure during deposition as major process variable parameters. Careful optimization of the deposition conditions allowed setting up a process resulting in high-quality NbN ultra-thin films with thickness of 5.5nm exhibiting Tc of 10.5K. Moreover, the transition width could be kept as low as 1.4K. The produced films were stored at ambient conditions and re-characterized over a period of 4 month without measurable degradation