APEC - Internationalization of industrial Science and Technology

APEC survey

Profile of respondents

According to an APEC-IST survey conducted in 1999, 21 industries who responded, are based in Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Europe (Non-APEC). They are food, consumer products and electronics industry.

Reasons for locating R&D facilities

According to the APEC-IST survey (1999), the following are the top 4 reasons indicated for locating R&D:

Close to market or customers
Establish a regional R & D base in this economy
Establish joint venture
R&D support for manufacturing facility and servicing customers

Factors affecting R&D internationalization

According to the APEC-IST survey (1999), the following top 8 factors encourage R&D internationalization:

Availability of capital (funding for R & D etc.)
Availability of skilled labor
Control of capital inflow and withdrawal
Financial and other incentives for local and overseas investment
Availability of management personnel
Telecommunication infrastructure
Special tax and other tariff concessions for new enterprises
Restrictions of foreign investments to certain fields

The following top 5 factors discourage R&D internationalization:

Ownership or occupation of land by foreign entities
Language and verbal communication
Insistence on local equity participation
Protection of patents, copyrights and trademarks
Protection and guarantees against expropriation and nationalization

Co-operation and competition with other players

In the APEC-IST survey conducted in 1999, few industries reported contracting out some of the manufacturing and assembling to local suppliers and giving technical advice to local suppliers.
One third of the respondents indicated some collaboration projects with local companies. Nil or least co-operative work with government labs.
On factors for collaboration, delivery schedules and service after sales received positive scores. Main concerns indicated are technological gap and about creation of future rivals.