This research was done within the framework of Pick-Me project – WP 5. The study analyzing data collected in a field survey of the ecosystem created by the RAD Bynet group of companies, which fostered some 130 startups of various types.
Using statistical models, we examined the factors that contribute to the interaction and collaboration among the companies in this remarkable ‘cloud’, their link with one another and with the ‘mother ship’ RAD, as factors that generate the exchange of knowledge. The results of the analysis show that the tendency to have sustained contacts and interaction is more likely for companies with which the mother company RAD played a business role in establishing them, or for which a senior company executive once had a senior role in RAD. These results indicate, apparently, the contribution of mutual trust built between companies, that influences their willingness to maintain sustained business links. Our research found that social and technological proximity encourage the tendency of companies to have business links, which in turn foster exchanges of knowledge. In addition, it emerged that geographical proximity in itself is not sufficient for creating interactions among companies, but rather additional factors are necessary for such collaborations, in particular proximity based on personal connections and individual mutual trust, which were more important even that technological proximity.
