This paper offers a framework for examining technology spillovers extant between research teams. A policy-relevant finding is that firms' research organizations must strive to absorb foreign technology. The result of a technology spillover imbalance or asymmetry is that from a country or policy perspective, even for countries sustaining a superior number of world-class research teams, a comparative technological advantage may be lost if the domestic R/D teams fail to absorb and exploit technology as aggressively as foreign rivals.