What kinds of firms collaborate with universities and public research institutes?

Recently, it is said that R&D strategy on firms has changed from independent R&D to introducing out-source-“Open Innovation”. Then, it is universities and public research institutes that attract attention as providers of outsource. They have substitute roles for R&D on firms because they carry out basic research with high risk that private firms cannot. However, it is not necessarily certain what firms collaborate with universities and public research institutes based on evidence. In this paper, we empirically analyze determinants on collaboration with universities and public research institutes on firms´ side using probit model. We particular focus on technological fields of research outcomes produced by universities and public institutes. We got data by original questionnaire survey we delegated to an investigation company. In this paper, we used about 3800 firms of them (response rate, 18%). On the whole, we found significant relationships between type of collaborations and technological fields in which research outcomes by universities and public research institutes firms use. This finding would also be important for managements of technology because this suggests that firms need to form collaborations with universities and public research institutes according to the technological areas that make their business effective.