Inter-organizational collaborative research networks in semiconductor lasers 1975–1994

How does the development of collaborative research networks vary? This paper investigates how research networks have developed in the same technological fields in North America, Europe, and Asia. Exploring inter-organizational co-authored papers published in the Applied Physics Letters from 1975 to 1994, we first map the collaborative research networks and demonstrate that research networks were more developed in scale and scope in North America than in Europe and Asia in semiconductor laser technology. U.S. organizations played a nodal role in networking throughout this time period. Addressing how research networks were more developed in the U.S. than in Japan in particular, this paper concludes that engineer mobility, academic–industry relationships, and entrepreneurial startups were the key factors for the development of collaborative networks during the periods studied.