Int. J. Technology Management, Vol. 35, Nos. 1/2/3/4, 2006 Copyright © 2006 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. 156 R&D cooperative agreements between firms and research organisations: a comparative analysis of the characteristics and reasons depending on the nature of the partner Angeles Montoro-Sanchez* Departamento de Organización de Empresas, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223 Madrid, Spain E-mail: mangeles@ccee.ucm.es *Corresponding author Eva Mª. Mora-Valentin and Luis Angel Guerras-Martin Departamento de Economía de la Empresa (Administración, Dirección y Organización), Facultad de C.C. Jurídicas y Sociales, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Paseo de los Artilleros, s/n, 28032 Madrid, Spain E-mail: evamaria.mora@urjc.es E-mail: luisangel.guerras@urjc.es Abstract: This paper is intended to present a descriptive analysis of a representative set of Spanish cooperative agreements in R&D activities between firms and Research Organisations (RO), including universities, public research centres and private institutes or associations. For this purpose, we have examined 800 collaborations (1995–2000) boosted by the public agency, Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI). Firstly, the main characteristics of the project have been studied such as investment, public subsidies, kind and number of partners and duration. Secondly, the various partners have been inquired about the reasons that have led them to cooperate in R&D. Finally, the results have been analysed from a global point of view and classified according to the nature of the partner with the aim of adopting a comparative perspective of the data. The results show that cooperation between firms and RO still is not the general pattern of behaviour in Spain for technological activities. Keywords: Spanish cooperative agreements in R&D; firms and research organisations’ collaborations; characteristics and reasons to cooperate in R&D; nature of the partner.