Do science-technology interactions pay off when developing technology?

We investigate the relationship between the science intensity of technology domains and country's performance within these domains. The number of references in patents to scientific articles is considered as an approximation of the science intensity of a technology domain whereas a country's technological performance is measured in terms of its technological productivity (i.e. number of patents per capita). We use USPTO patent-data for eight European countries in ten technological domains. A variance analysis (ANOVA) is applied. Country as an independent variable does not explain a significant portion of the observed variance in science intensity (p=0.25). Technology domain, however, explains a significant portion of the observed variance (p<0.001). Moreover, in science intensive fields we find a positive relation between the science linkage intensity of these fields and the technological productivity of the respective countries involved. These findings seem to suggest the relevancy of designing innovation policies, aimed at fostering interaction between knowledge generating actors and technology producers, in a field specific manner.