Evaluating the effectiveness of public support on inbound open innovation: evidence from Spanish manufacturing SMEs

Applying several matching estimators to a sample of Spanish manufacturing SMEs, we evaluate the impact of regional and federal funding on inbound open innovation strategies. Such SMEs are more likely to respond to public support by increasing either their cooperation with government institutions or their investment in extramural R&D than by enhancing cooperative networks. A policy corollary is to promote measures to attenuate cooperation failures. Methodologically, each type of funding and each type of cooperative partner should be considered separately. Moreover, overestimation of treatment effects when firms' unobserved characteristics are not addressed suggests that sensitivity analysis should complement matching estimation.