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This work discusses the generally accepted idea that public–private cooperation only generates unilateral transfers of knowledge from public research and development (R&D) institutions to industrial firms and suggests that there are collaborative patterns in which the generation of knowledge is joint and it is characterized by the presence of bidirectional flows of knowledge. Through a multi-case study, this aspect is investigated in three public–private partnerships in the Argentine biopharmaceutical sector, focusing in particular on the knowledge flows and the identification of possible learning processes that the public part develops when cooperating with firms. The main findings and contributions of the work are that knowledge in the hands of the industry flows towards the public part, strengthening its R&D capabilities, that all the benefits received by the public part can be understood in terms of learning and that science–industry cooperation is compatible with the enrichment of the public research agenda.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show how science-industry R&D cooperation (SIRC) generates effects on the strategy developed by firms to appropriate the benefits of innovations. Given the plurality of cooperation patterns between firms and public R&D institutions and the variety of appropriation mechanisms used by firms to protect generated knowledge or to strengthen their market position, this paper investigates to what extent different forms of cooperation are associated with different effects on appropriation strategy. Design/methodology/approach As evidence of this, the authors carry out a multiple case study, covering nine biopharmaceutical Argentine firms whose innovation projects are developed in cooperation with public R&D institutions. Using critical dimensions identified by public-private R&D cooperation literature, the paper analyzes the characteristics of cooperation in the cases studied, looking for different patterns. Given the existence of various appropriation mechanisms identified by appropriability literature, the paper analyzes how firms use (or not) those mechanisms within the specific context of jointly generated innovation. Findings The paper shows that SIRC generates opposing effects on the various appropriation mechanisms used by firms, both challenging and strengthening them. Likewise, the identification of three cooperation patterns in Argentine biopharmaceutical sector, namely, contract R&D, internalization and coordination, allows appreciating how each pattern affects differently the appropriation mechanisms used by firms, being the coordination one, the most functional to the appropriation strategy of firms analyzed. Research limitations/implications The arguments presented here are necessarily limited to the biopharmaceutical Argentine sector, which is strategic to the country, for accumulated capabilities in scientific and business aspects. The analysis could be enriched by extending it to other industries with similar innovation characteristics and to other countries, where patents have a similar weight (emerging countries) or a different one (developed countries). Practical implications Innovation and public-private collaboration policies may benefit from the analysis presented here, which helps to assess advantages and challenges of different SIRC logics on firms’ appropriation issues and to considerate which aspects allow cooperation and appropriation combining in a more virtuous form. Originality/value There is no paper that explicitly examines the effects generated by different SIRC patterns on the appropriation strategy of firms, conceived as a combination of different mechanisms which may include patents but is not limited to them.

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resumenLa actividad innovadora es crítica para una empresa, así como la posibilidad de beneficiarse de sus resultados. Para alcanzar dicho objetivo las firmas elaboran una estrategia de apropiación, basada en el uso de varios mecanismos de apropiación existentes. Este trabajo estudia nueve firmas del sector biofarmacéutico argentino, que se caracteriza por una intensa actividad innovadora que es intrínsecamente cooperativa, ya que las firmas recurren sistemáticamente a fuentes externas y públicas de conocimiento. La colaboración pú-blico-privada genera necesariamente efectos sobre las estrategias de apropiación de las empresas, que deben considerar riesgos y ventajas implícitos en un proceso de innovación de tales características. Los rasgos que asume la colaboración entre las partes son críticos para identificar las especificidades de la relación entre colaboración y apropiación, en un sector intensivo en ciencia y tecnología que es estratégico para Argentina por las capacidades acumuladas a nivel científico y empresarial.Palabras clave: Apropiación, innovación, biofarmacéutico, colaboración en I+D, conocimiento Clasificación jel: O30; O32; O34 abstract Innovative activity is critical to a business, and offers the opportunity to benefit from its results. To achieve this objective, firms develop a strategy of appropriation, based on the use of various existing mechanisms of appropriation. This paper studies nine Argentine firms in the biopharmaceutical sector, which is characterized by intensive innovation, which is inherently cooperative, as firms systematically use external and public sources of knowledge. Public-private partnership necessarily impacts firms' appropriation strategies, which need to consider the risks and benefits inherent to an innovation process of such characteristics. The traits collaboration between the parties assumes are critical to identify the specificities of the relationship between collaboration and appropriation, in a science and technology intensive sector which is strategic for Argentina due to its accumulated scientific and productive capabilities.