Universities as research joint venture partners: does size of the venture matter?

We observe that research joint ventures (RJVs) with university members are distinctly larger than those without. We seek to explain this observation by stressing that net gains are greater for industry participants in RJVs with a large number of members since the loss in appropriable information from the university's involvement decreases as the RJV's size increases. Further, universities show a preference for more costly projects to absorb overhead administrative costs associated with externally-contracted research.