The Doctoral Committee was composed by Dr. Jordi Suriñach, Dr. Pablo D'Este and Dr. Agustí Segarra. Her dissertation consists of three different empirical studies which represent new contributions to the empirical research of firms’ R&D cooperation behaviour. Specifically, the thesis provides new evidence on three broad issues: 1) the determinants of firms' R&D cooperation, 2) the dynamic behaviour of such R&D cooperation and 3) the impact of R&D cooperation strategies on firms' innovative performance.