Interesting study. I hadn't considered the R&D and University links as that large a component into the decision to offshore. It does look like the US will get some R&D investment from some Euro based companies.
Kauffman study says cost not only cause of offshoring
A study sponsored by the Kansas City-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation shows lower cost for research and development isn’t the only reason companies move those activities away from their home country.
The study of more than 200 multinational companies in the United States and western Europe across 15 industries found that intellectual capital and university collaboration also are key components that lead a company to offshore facilities and jobs.
The study finds that emerging countries such as China and India will continue to be major beneficiaries of R&D expansion over the next three years as companies seek new market opportunities, access to top scientists and engineers and collaborative research relationships with leading universities.
More than half of the corporate respondents who identify the United States as their home country report that they have either recently expanded or planned to locate R&D facilities in China and India as opposed to other developed countries. Of 63 western European companies responding, 13 plan on expanding or locating new R&D facilities to the U.S.
“The study underscores the critical role universities play in a country’s national innovation system, not just in the training of new scientists and access to the best talent, but in the ease of developing and licensing technology,” Carl Schramm, president and chief executive officer of the Kauffman Foundation, said in a news release.
The study was released at a meeting of the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable of the National Academies. It was conducted by Marie Thursby, Ph.D., professor of strategic management at Georgia Tech College of Management, and Jerry Thursby, chair of the Department of Economics at Emory University.
