Complementarities of innovation activities: An empirical analysis of the German manufacturing sector

Innovation strategies in manufacturing often involve internal R&D activities as well as external partnerships. Thereby it is not clear if internal and external activities are complements or substitutes. This paper tests for complementarity of different innovation activities, i.e. internal R&D, R&D contracting, and R&D cooperation. The empirical analysis of cross-sectional firm level data of the German manufacturing sector comprises both indirect and direct complementarity tests; it is based on data from the German part of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS 3). The results provide evidence for significant complementarities between internal R&D and R&D cooperation, but cast doubt on the complementarity of internal and contracted R&D, since a productivity effect on firms’ patenting probability or sales with new products cannot be found.