The Internationalization of Corporate R&D

THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF CORPORATE R&D5 Swedish ICT Competitiveness and theGlobalization of R&DGöran Marklund5.1 IntroductionNational economic competitiveness is the foundation of economic growth and thus thematerial basis of national welfare developments. In accordance with the World EconomicForum, it is here defined as: “The ability of a country to achieve sustained highrates of growth in GDP per capita” (WEF 1996, p. 19).GDP per capita is based on the economic value generating capacity of different industries.The contributions of different industries to GDP are basically measured in termsof value added.In addition to value added, industrial contribution to national economic wealth, particularlyin the long-term, is strongly connected to the job-creation impacts of production.Employment growth and its sustainability are key to the long-term growth ofhousehold consumption, tax payments and competence developments.Technological capabilities are critical for long-term economic competitiveness, and aretherefore essential sources of national wealth, employment and welfare. In recent decades,the accelerating globalization has generated fundamental changes in businessmodels and innovation systems. Research and development (R&D) and other innovation-relatedinvestments have increasingly become geographically mobile. As a consequence,these processes have rapidly and fundamentally changed the opportunitiesand challenges for national technological capabilities. The benefits of innovation investments,in terms of economic value and employment, have become less tied to nationalborders. In addition, the decision to geographically co-locate technological andproduction activities has become less self-evident.Globalization changes the playing field and rules-of-the-game for a country’s generationof technological and business capabilities, as well as for the recouping of economicand technological benefits. Depending on the dynamics of different economicand innovation systems, these global changes generate important challenges and opportunitiesfor countries.The technological and industrial history of Information and Communication Technologies(ICT) represents one of the most significant chapters in the transformation of industriesand societies in modern times. It is therefore adequate to refer to this transformationas the ICT revolution. This has taken place on several societal levels, and hasbeen as much a technological and economic revolution as a social revolution.129