Abstract
The Esprit Programme is the oldest and largest of the European Commission's research and development programmes. Collaboration among participants is fundamental to all the projects that it supports. This collaboration is justified in terms of benefits for innovation, yet the very formal collaboration of Esprit is far removed from both the network links which are now seen to join organisations, and the informal information channels of individuals, vital in the supply of information required for innovation. This paper considers what their relationship with formal collaboration might be.