GLOBINN · The changing nature of Internationalization of Innovation in Europe: impact on firms and the implications for innovation policy in the EU

The overall purpose of the GlobInn project is to improve our understanding of the changing nature of internationalization of Europe’s innovation systems by studying the international knowledge sourcing strategies of European firms and their effect on performance. The starting premise of the project is that Europe’s knowledge resources and its role in the global economy will be increasingly shaped by the ability of EU firms to source knowledge internationally. Firms can employ three modes in internationalizing their innovative activities: (a) the global trading of technology based services and licensing as firms seek to exploit the global markets for their technologies; (b) international collaborative agreements and strategic alliances as firms seek out international partners for their knowledge generating activities; and (c) the international dispersal of their own R&D and technology creating activities as they seek out new regions and resources in different parts of the world. The GlobInn project aims to bring together leading EU scholars involved in studying each of these modes largely in isolation to focus on an integrated analysis. In the first instance this analysis will map the trends in the growth of each of these modes with an emphasis on whether internationalization of innovation in European firms is an intra EU or extra EU phenomenon. The second focal point will be the organisational and managerial issues which influence the strategies of EU firms in seeking international sources of knowledge, and have an impact on their on innovation and economic performance. Both of these are essential for analysing the implications for national and EU-level policies. Indeed the underlying rationale for the GlobInn project is that devising appropriate policies requires a deeper understanding of each of the three modes and the firms level processes and strategies.