The paper investigates the linkages between the characteristics oftechnologies and the structure of a firms' knowledge base. Nanotechnologieshave been defined as converging technologies that operate at the nanoscale, andwhich require integration to fulfill their economic promises. Based on aworldwide database of nanofirms, the paper analyses the degree of convergenceand the convergence mechanisms within firms. It argues that the degree ofconvergence in a firm's nano-knowledge base is relatively independent from thesize of the firm's nano-knowledge base. However, while firms with smallnano-knowledge bases tend to exploit convergence in each of theirpatents/publications, firms with large nano-knowledge bases tend to separatetheir nano-R&D activities in the different established fields and achievediversity through the juxtaposition of the output of these independentactivities
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