We analyze transfer channels of radical innovations launched by small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) using an ego network approach. Based on a unique longitudinal dataset covering the observation period 1996–2016, we identify and trace back radical innovations of SMEs in German Biotech in order to analyze the extent to which SMEs themselves—or eventually also other organizations in their direct cooperation surrounding—benefit from radical innovations in terms of subsequent innovation performance. Results from negative binomial panel regressions indicate that direct cooperation partners of radical innovators show higher innovative performance than partners of the control group, i.e., statistical twin firms without radical innovations. Our results confirm that radical innovations initiate a positive impulse for innovation through direct cooperative relationships. Interestingly, geographical proximity does not play a role, and especially technologically different partners benefit from direct cooperation with radical innovators.Plain English Summary Radical innovations are rare but have a great importance for the economy. Our study shows that not only radically innovating biotech SMEs themselves but also various types of directly linked cooperation partners benefit significantly. We investigate whether directly linked cooperation partners of radically innovating firms benefit from knowledge spillover transferred through formal cooperation. A radical innovation represents a novel and often complex combination of already existing knowledge. Thus, knowledge transfer process differs for radical and non-radical innovations. Project-based formal cooperation can support the transfer of radical knowledge. In this context geographical and technological factors matter. Using the example of German small and medium-sized biotechnology firms, we show that collaboration with radical firms is positively related to innovation performance of directly linked project partners. Interestingly, this effect is higher for partners located in other regions as well as for technologically distant partners. Our study extends the research on knowledge transfer by emphasizing the role of formal collaboration projects, especially in knowledge intensive high-tech industries.

The interdependence of science and technology has been of high interest for researchers from different fields for several decades now. As they represent different means of knowledge output protection, patents and research articles generally have different reasons for creation and different audiences. However, some of the inventors may be interested in making an impact on the scientific community and vice versa. This interaction between technology space (patents) and science space (articles) is especially important for high-technology fields, where both research institutions and enterprises play important roles in the innovative environment. This paper investigates the interaction between science and technology in the case of German plant biotechnology. With the help of network analysis tools, the evolution and co-evolution of co-inventors’ and co-authors’ networks for the period 1995–2015 is explored. Finally, the topics of the patents and papers from the overlap were analyzed with the help of text mining tools in order to identify the differences of topics between science/technology and their overlap. As a result, sizable differences in nature and advancement are observed between the two network types. Although the overlap between these spheres of innovative activities increased over time, the role author-inventors played in the science or technology space varied.

We document the generation and the content of the Comprehensive Patent Database (CPDB) of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (1949–1990), which is freely available at GESIS https://doi.org/10.7802/2448. The database contains all patents granted in the GDR and published by the Office of Inventions and Patents (later: German Patent and Trade Mark Office/DPMA). The core database covers the years 1950–1990 and contains 24 variables with manually cleaned and processed information on a total of 261,822 unique patents of the GDR.

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