Knowledge transfer in the companies of the Basque Country autonomous community: Absorption capability and spaces for knowledge interaction

Abstract

This paper examines knowledge transfer in firms at the Basque Country (BC). The main purpose of this work is to show the relationship existing between the firm's absorptive capacity (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990) and knowledge transfer. To be able to measure the absorptive capacity, we focused on the role played by human resources in science, technology and innovation (HRISTI). For knowledge transfer analysis we have considered the cooperation projects for innovation performed by the companies as proxy indicators of knowledge interaction. The results obtained show that the patterns of knowledge interaction in the Basque firms are associated to their HRICTI profile.