Geographical or relational: What drives technology-specific R&D collaboration networks?

R&D collaboration networks enable rapid access to global sources of knowledge, especially in strongly knowledge-based and technology-driven industries. However, technological idiosyncrasies require a refined picture, in particular, when explaining the interplay between geographical and relational effects driving the constitution and dynamics of R&D collaboration networks. We employ a spatial interaction modelling approach to estimate how geographical separation and network structural effects influence technology-specific R&D collaborations between European regions. The results underline both the significance of geographical barriers and network structural effects and confirm that specific network connectivity is able to compensate for geographical barriers—throughout all technologies investigated, although the effects differ in magnitude. However, when two regions are dissimilar in their network centrality, the potential to reduce negative geographical effects is relatively lower.