How is countries’ digitalization influencing technology transfer? A network analysis across the horizon europe strategy

Resumen

Digitalization and technology transfer (TT) are expected to have a key role in organizations and countries development. However, there is a lack of evidence about the impact of digitalization on TT in strategic collaborative partnerships. This study covers this research gap by offering evidence of the impact of the digitalization level on the TT network at country level. To answer this research question, this analysis also provides a preliminary exploration of the TT landscape in strategic collaborative networks. We analyse 411 projects in which 31 countries participate through 2,890 organizations. A two-steps analysis is performed based on first, a complex network analysis, and second, on a cluster and ANOVA analysis. Our results suggest that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, countries with higher levels of digitalization perform worse in TT activities than countries with intermediate digital performance, which are the leaders of the TT collaboration network. Additionally, this study also shed light about the digitalization indicators that can improve the European countries position in the network.