Introduction to special issue: Interactions between public research organisations and industry in Latin America: a study on channels and benefits from the perspective of firms and researchers.

This special issue discusses the relative effectiveness of different channels of interaction between public research organisations (PROs) and industry in driving specific types of benefits for researchers and firms in Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica and Mexico). The empirical evidence comes from original micro-data collected through similar questionnaires sent to the managers of firms and PRO researchers in each country. The richness of this special issue results from its origin: it emerges as a joint motivation to understand a key aspect of PRO--industry interactions through the relationship between channels and benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]