Efforts to Innovate Favouring the Absorption of Foreign Direct Investment So as to Achieve Beneficial Outcomes from Innovation

Abstract

This piece of work provides new findings about the effects of interactions between efforts to innovate and foreign direct investment on the results of innovation in Spanish firms. Examples of beneficial outcomes would be patents, as well as new products and processes. In addition, consideration will be given to the innovation activities that can favour from foreign direct investment in such a way as to attain innovation objectives of this sort. The source of the information used is PITEC, the Spanish Panel for Technological Innovation, together with figures from DataInvex, which contains the official statistics on foreign investment and other trade figures, provided by the Spanish Ministry of Commerce. In this study, we use logistic regression models to explain the impacts that attempts to innovate have upon the absorption of the foreign direct investment to attain the innovation outcomes. R&D expenditures, external collaboration, and public funds for innovation favour the absorption of Foreign Direct Investment to achieve beneficial outcomes from the innovation.