Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics
Papers in Innovation Studies,
Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research
No 2026/7: When Global Pipelines Generate Novelty: Evidence from AstraZeneca’s International Academic Collaborations
Claudio Fassio (), Pauline Mattsson (), Aldo Geuna () and Ioana Igna ()
Additional contact information
Claudio Fassio: University of Pisa, Postal: Italy
Pauline Mattsson: CIRCLE, Lund University, Postal: CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research, Lund University, PO Box 117, SE-22100 Lund, Sweden
Aldo Geuna: University of Torino, Postal: Italy
Ioana Igna: Copenhagen Business School, Postal: Denmark
Abstract: International university-industry collaboration expands access to heterogeneous knowledge environments but simultaneously raises coordination costs that may impede the deep, exploratory exchange needed to produce genuinely novel science. This paper examines the relational conditions under which geographically dispersed firm-academia collaborations generate knowledge novelty. We argue that social proximity, operationalized as prior shared institutional affiliation between AstraZeneca researchers and their academic collaborators, serves as a critical enabling mechanism, particularly under geographic distance, where institutional and cultural frictions are highest. Using a longitudinal dataset of 17,522 co-authored publications by AstraZeneca scientists from 2000 to 2020, we measure novelty through word-embedding indicators capturing both recombination novelty and element novelty. Exploiting the within-firm variation across AstraZeneca's globally distributed R&D network, we test whether the novelty-enhancing effect of social ties is stronger in international than in domestic academic collaborations. Results support an asymmetric substitution mechanism: prior social ties are positively associated with novelty specifically in international collaborations, where they compensate for the absence of spatial and institutional proximity, but not in domestic ones. These findings refine the proximity literature's substitution hypothesis and contribute to the understanding of how multinational firms organize knowledge recombination across geographically dispersed innovation networks.
Keywords: International university-industry collaborations; Novelty; Social proximity; Geographic proximity; R&D sites
JEL-codes: D83; F23; I23; L24; L65; O32
Language: English
81 pages, July 2, 2026
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