The Internationalization of Corporate R&D

THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF CORPORATE R&DHuman resources for competitive R&D competence represent a fundamental challengefor all innovation systems. University and institute research, training and educationgenerally have strong local development properties, since individuals tend tobe relatively “sticky” geographically. Because individual competences and “competenceteams” are critically important to industry, investment in public research andtraining is equally important. This is further accentuated by two interrelated globalindustrial trends: 1) the tendency to “outsource” research of a more “basic” kind,which generates an increasing dependence on external R&D sources in the innovationprocesses, and 2) the tendency to search systematically and globally for leadingR&D competence and, if necessary, tap into such competence pools by locatingand re-locating R&D activities to international centers-of-excellence. Consequently,Swedish innovation policy for ICT competitiveness should carefully consider effortsthat generate internationally competitive levels of publicly-funded university andinstitute research and training.Regional market developments in the Baltic region are probably of key importance toSwedish ICT competitiveness, as the relative geographical proximity, compared toregions such as China and India, and may improve both the export potentials and theR&D interactions for Swedish R&D. It is likely that Swedish attractiveness for locatingproduction and for technology investments will become increasingly related tothe market and capability developments in the greater area of Scandinavia andNorthern Europe, including the developing Baltic region. Therefore, Swedish competitivenesspolicy should consider strategies to contribute to the cultivation of economicand technological capabilities in Europe in general, and Northern Europe andthe Baltic region in particular. If successful, such strategies would be of substantialimportance to generating mutually reinforcing supply-and-demand relationshipsbetween ICT innovation systems in Northern Europe.5.6 ConclusionDue to intensified globalization, multinational industrial groups are increasingly seekinglocations with optimal conditions for exploitation and production activities. Historicaland geographical roots have become less important determinants of locations ofvalue adding industrial activities. This is primarily due to the internationally wideningboundaries of the value generation within industrial systems, though it is also related tothe rapidly increasing trans-national patterns of company ownerships.The global and national deregulation or re-regulation of several industries, includingthe ICT industry, which previously were regulated through monopolistic or semimonopolisticprivate-public partnerships, further reinforces these trends. As a result,globalization has simultaneously spurred global growth opportunities and intensifiedinternational competition due to the opening of global markets. The above-described149