Globalization is a process that implies a very high international mobility of various factors of production and puts national economies directly into competition with each other. As such, globalization represents a challenge for firms that confront global competition, and for States, who have to valorize those resources and capacities such as human resources that are less mobile. Innovation plays a central role within this context; firms make use of new technologies to increase the impact of their operations and are also obliged, by global competition, to be increasingly innovative. Nevertheless, innovation still remains relatively 'localized', even though certain networks which favor it are indeed international. This book analyzes the different components at the root of the tensions between the development of national resources and globalization.

Mutlinational enterprises seek to adapt the structure of their research activities to globalization, but the movement of internationalization of R&D activities remains limited. In the fields of information technology and biotechnology, we notice that important technology transfers have taken place from the United States to Europe, via entrepreneurial acquisitions, alliances and the off-shoring of laboratories. The case of the automobile industry not only illustrates the difficulties in development strategies for global products but also the possibilities of international transfers of technical know-how. The race for innovation and the most direct confrontation of various national systems together imply the evolution of the international rules of the game and of public policy. In France, for example, concerns over competitiveness have brought the Colbertism of traditional technological policy into question.