Determinants of R&D offshoring: firm-level evidence from a small open economy

Abstract

We analyse determinants of an enterprise’s decision to offshore R&D activities using a novel dataset for enterprises in Ireland over the period 2001–2006. Our results suggest that, on average, other things equal, enterprises integrated in international production and innovation networks, and enterprises which used information and communication technologies more intensively were more likely to offshore R&D. Furthermore, characteristics of the import source region had an important influence on enterprise offshoring behaviour, with offshoring to regions outside of the advanced European Union’s economies being less likely.