High tech, high impact: Creating Canada's competitive advantage through technology alliances

Executive Overview An explosion of alliance activity is occurring in the high technology sector in Canada. Alliances “encompass a variety of agreements whereby two or more firms agree to pool their resources to pursue specific market opportunities.”1 In the fast-paced world of entrepreneurial high technology, alliances have become increasingly broad to include two or more companies entering info functional agreements to cooperate in such areas as R&D, marketing, manufacturing, and distribution. The form of such partnerships may be anything from joint ventures to a wide range of contractual arrangements, such as licensing or distribution agreements.2 It is precisely the multiple forms and fluidity of these arrangements that make technology alliances unique and flexible on the rapidly changing competitive landscape.