University-SME collaboration and innovation performance: the role of informal relationships and absorptive capacity

This work analyzes the impact of university–industry collaborations (UICs) on the innovation performance of a sample of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) located in Veneto, a region in the north-east of Italy, which is considered particularly representative of the often-cited “innovation without research” model. We consider two aspects of such UICs that have never been at the center of theoretical and empirical debates on the innovation...