• Identify and distinguish between different forms of technology partnering
• Take active part in a technology partnering process
• Critically debate and assess the material taught and combine these contributions into formal recommendations on technology partnering
• Formulate drafts of contracts aimed at producing successful partnerships
• Assess and evaluate the optimal contractual specifications given the circumstances of the involved parties and technology in question
• Evaluate and critically assess exiting technology partnerships based on contractual contents
• Identify potential partners for technological and innovation collaboration

Aim of the course

Firms operate under scarce resources (both in terms of financial and human capital). This is especially true when it comes to R&D and innovation related activities. R&D and other innovation related activities are by many firms considered optional since it often amounts to great sunk costs and since the immediate benefits are uncertain and opaque. The extensive resources needed for R&D and innovation therefore often cause firms, small young firms in particular, to deselect such activities. This course provides insight as to how firms may manage and organize technology partnering in the form of formal alliances, joint ventures, licensing etc. Technology partnering is a means through which firms may pursue a more aggressive innovation strategy or engage in innovation related activities intensively and efficiently without having the needed resources to formally commit to a full innovation program. The course aims at offering bachelor students with competences that allow them to pursue, manage and harness the benefits from innovation activities jointly with other organizations going beyond the standard open innovation channels. Focus will be on formal agreements like alliances, joint ventures and licensing. In many industries and contexts it has proven to be detrimental to “go it alone”. But it is also necessary to understand how to orchestrate such partnerships in order to reap the optimal benefits without leaving the firm vulnerable in competitive settings.

Content

Point of departure is a clear precise distinction between different forms of technology partnering. The course consists of traditional lectures on basic principles of contractual economics, microeconomics, and innovation management coupled with applied cases of partnering contracts. The applied cases are drawn from databases on partnering, which allow the scrutiny of details with regard to the formal agreements between the involved parties. These carefully chosen cases will allow students to be affiliated with and exposed to issues important for successful partnering. The lecture series also contain guest lecturing from externals that have personal experience with entering into technology partnership agreements. This gives students a chance to reflect on the theoretical contents and test their understandings against experience.

Progression

This course is the foundation for understanding the fundamentals of strategic conduct and action with regard to technology partnering. It will utilize the principles of microeconomics, law and economics as well as innovation management. The course also provides applicable insights useful in settings characterized by various types of partnering beyond R&D and innovayion. Many of the takeaways can be directly transferred to supply contracts, distribution contracts, or other types of outsourcing activities. The course is therefore building on principles from prior lectures and providing a framework for a multitude of specializations at the master level.

Offered for HA-ENT students.

• Hagedoorn, J. (1993). Understanding the rationale of strategic technology partnering: Nterorganizational modes of cooperation and sectoral differences. Strategic management journal, 14(5), 371-385.
• Ziedonis, R. H. (2004). Don't fence me in: Fragmented markets for technology and the patent acquisition strategies of firms. Management Science, 50(6), 804-820.
• Arora, A., & Ceccagnoli, M. (2006). Patent protection, complementary assets, and firms' incentives for technology licensing. Management Science, 52(2), 293-308.
• Leonard, D & Delacey, B. J. (2003) Collabrys Inc. (A) – the Evolution of a Startup, Harvard Cases Publicaitons.