The globalisation of ICT research and development: some implications for firms, public research institutions and governments

This paper argues that there is a new wave of globalisation, with international investment flows increasingly focussing on developing economies such as China and India, on services rather than manufacturing and, in particular, on a range of information and business services, including R&D, design and technical services. Examining some of the implications, this paper concludes that the challenge for local firms will be to participate in global production systems and take advantage of knowledge generated anywhere within the systems' value chains. The challenge for specialist research centres will be to engage the global architectural innovators and systems integrators from a distance. And the challenge for governments lies in enhancing underlying capabilities through investment in education and research, attention to the other critical factors in attracting foreign investment in domestic R&D activity, and creating the global linkages and domestic environment to support global discovery and domestic absorption