In the United States, public-private partnerships are an important component of government innovation policy (Audretsch, Link and Scott, 2002) and have been particularly helpful in overcoming the risks associated with the introduction of new technologies into the market. A prominent example is the 1986 United States Clean Coal Technology Program, which was created to address the acid rain problem. The industry covered almost two thirds of the project costs, and a Department of Energy (DOE) study found that “cost sharing between (the) DOE and industrial collaborators frequently improved the performance of RD&D programs and enhanced the level of economic and other benefits associated with such programs” (National Research Council, 2001).