Die Internationalisierung von Forschung und Entwicklung: Motive, Strategien und Auswirkungen

The R&D expenditures of Swiss enterprises abroad have significantly increased in the last twenty years and they are by now higher than the respective expenditures in Switzerland itself. The opinion has been frequently expressed by observers that the increase of R&D investment abroad would lead to a lasting weakening of research and innovation in Switzerland (substitution hypothesis). Our empirical investigations show that this is not the case, even if there are some hints for a (temporary?) weakening in the last years.