Cooperation for innovation as knowledge exchanges: a view from innovation surveys

The main assumption of the paper is that cooperation for innovation is a knowledge exchange process, driven by people. It stresses the importance of knowing who knows what -and does what- in the firms. The cooperative behavior of firms in innovative activities is analyzed from several data sources and using such data in different ways. The results obtained show unmistakably that ¿scientifically and technically trained employees¿ are among the most relevant variables to understanding the cooperation for innovation within the Uruguayan industry.