Determinants of Research and Development Internationalisation

The dispersion of innovative activities by Multinational Enterprises concerns today both developed and developing countries, as home or host countries, although some nations seem to be better recipients than others. A panel sample of 23 countries has been built to test two empirical questions: which drivers have the highest impact on the choices of localisation of R&D affiliates in foreign countries? And, do differences between advanced and less advanced countries exist in terms of attracting factors? The method used is a set of regressions with the share of foreign R&D expenditures as dependent variable and pull, push, policy and enabling factors have been included as explanatory variables. Main results confirm the hypothesis that some factors are more relevant than others and that these, in turn, differ between countries. In particular, developing countries are more likely to attract R&D-related investments if they can provide e.g. a good growth rate and a specialisation towards high-tech productions, while foreign firms are more willing to invest in advanced countries with factors like well developed infrastructures and a qualified and appropriate educational system.