Sociedade, Tecnologia e Inovação Empresarial - Presidente da ...

The internationalisation of national systems of innovation is fromthis perspective tri-dimensional. It is channelled by the internationalisationof knowledge, of capital and of labour. A priori, the internationalisationof labour by means of migration has plaid particularly inEurope a relatively small role in the process. The first phase of restructuring,e.g. the 80’s, has even been marked by the relative absence ofmigration flows, with the exception of the US, precisely at a time whenthe internationalisation of capital was accelerated. Relatively little haschanged at least in Europe in that respect in the 90’s but it has becomeclear that the migration of qualified labour, of professionals and scientists,would be an important issue for the near future. Already at thecore of the scientific labour force the number of foreign students andacademics is becoming important. It certainly is already the case in theUS and European countries are now starting to compete to attract foreignscientists (Mahroum, 1998).As a matter of fact, at this level the issue is part of the increasedinternationalisation of knowledge which is a multidimensional phenomenon.Some knowledge is produced and developed from the startat an international level and circulates via international networks ofacademics and researchers (see here e.g. the typology of Archibugi andMuchie, 1998). A structure like Internet clearly induces further andexpands such dynamics. At another level large business services arealso major channels for technology transfers along with all the transactionshaving a direct bearing on technology sales from standardpatents to all kind of franchising and intellectual property rights. It isalso the case of the exports of equipment goods, international transactionstraditionally considered as passive vectors of technology transfers.Technology can by now be transferred through various means.Beyond this aspect of access to technology, the policy interest lies ofcourse in the capacity of assimilation of each country. As stressed byNelson and Pack (1999), the challenge of national systems of innovationsis not so much to accumulate new technology equipment but toassimilate the technology and get to know how to use it comprehensively.In particular learning process may take longer in some countriesthan in others. Secondly adjusting the old qualities of the national sys-Debates3 0 2Sociedade, Tecnologia e Inovação Empresarial