During the past decades, large firms and especially multinational firms have been developing innovation networks with a true global reach. In these networks, innovation is created in different locations and shared among different partners in order to open, adapt, maintain or exploit new market opportunities.
The objective of the INGINEUS research project is to investigate what global innovation networks are, and what policy implications they pose for Europe. This Framework Programme 7 project is ongoing, but the researchers have published a policy brief summarising the findings of a survey conducted by INGINEUS, that highlights what 500 European firms see as the biggest barriers to engaging with these networks. It also summarises the perceptions of these companies as to what policies are the most relevant to help them engage in global innovation networks.
The INGINEUS survey has found that, overall, European firms encounter low-medium levels of barriers when collaborating with other firms or organisations from abroad.
However, there are problems such as: managing globally dispersed projects, cultural differences, the costs of changing locations, to find relevant knowledge and, to define tools and processes within the firm.
The report says the policy implications of these findings are:
- Policy-makers should lower the barriers for European companies’ active participation in global innovation networks.
- Policy makers must help improving European firms’ capabilities to manage global innovation networks. In particular, their ability to manage globally dispersed innovation projects, to manage relocation costs efficiently, and to manage cultural differences.
- European firms need more open and flexible migration regulations for employing foreign scientists and technicians; and more stringent regulations, practice and jurisprudence around intellectual property rights.
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