What is internationalization?

Some view recent internationalization of science, technology and innovation as a new endeavor. Others argue that internationalization of STI needs to be redefined and broadened to include other activities. For instance, according to Schwaag Serger and Wise (2010, p. 31), “efforts at EU level to promote internationalization of science, technology and innovation – that is, efforts at promoting linkages with countries outside the European Union – are still dominated by initiatives aimed at promoting research cooperation (e.g.

increasing international S&T agreements, researcher mobility and joint research infrastructures)”.

Also, since 1974, a number of reports and government bills have focused on the importance of internationalization of higher education. Most recently, the report, Gemensamt ansvar: Sveriges politik för global utveckling or “Shared Responsibility: Sweden’s Policy on Global Development,” highlights the role of sustainable development and education in achieving this goal (Utrikesdepartementet, 2003). Internationalization refers to activities outside national borders, foreign or global. It also indicates continuous change.

Certainly the institutions that are involved in promoting internationalization are the same but the mechanisms developed to support internationalization activities and the perspectives on the phenomenon change over time.

It is, therefore, a dynamic process and governments and local actors (researchers) in both developed and developing countries drive the pace and the intensity of internationalization. The concept of internationalization has been used broadly overtime given that there are different types of internationalization – internationalization of accounting standards, internationalization of research and

development (R&D) or internationalization of higher education. This thesis discusses internationalization in the context of science, technology and innovation. First, internationalization is not only a phenomenon that is intrinsic to today’s modern society and the globalization process but is also a central mechanism and a practice in research and innovation policy. Second, the internationalization of STI plays a role in the governance and the practice of science and in the dissemination of ideas about science and technology. Third, this mechanism for disseminating and exchanging information serves specific purposes: to foster collaborative research and learning, to facilitate international scientific mobility and to build capacity in science and technology.

More recently, countries worldwide have been promoting internationalization in the research area as a policy tool for the governance and management of research. Internationalization among other goals, aims to increase scientific mobility and research collaboration. Countries accomplish this by promoting scientific mobility and knowledge sharing, moving researchers and students around the world and across research projects. Through the process of diffusing research activities, ideas and people, knowledge is transferred to different localities and research practices become more standardized. In addition, internationalization as a practice in STI policy aims to promote research interconnectivity among developed and developing countries and enhance international collaboration and scientific mobility resulting in a more integrated research system.

In addition to the movement of scientists, ideas and research practices, there are a number of ways in which internationalization is taking place and spreading within the process of globalization. This can be illustrated by the increase in the numbers of patent applications filed by individuals from multiple countries and the growth of technological agreements and alliances. (Elzinga, 2001). In addition, international research collaborations and scientific mobility represent the different ways in which research internationalization gets promoted and spread around the world.

Therefore, internationalization in research and innovation policy is a continuous and evolving process and changes at the international, national and local levels.

It is a mechanism to increase scientific mobility and to disseminate ideas, new discoveries and research approaches and standards. It is dependent on a constellation of actors and institutions to be further developed, promoted and sustained in the long-run. It is also an elective process which means that actors

and their institutions (e.g. policy makers, firm owners/managers and researchers) choose whether to support and participate in internationalization or not. At the international level, research internationalization changes according to trends and external factors (e.g. European Union science and technology cooperation agreements). At the macro (government) level, internationalization practices and activities might change according to government’s ambitions and domestic needs for research skills and for strengthening science and technology capabilities. And at the micro (research organizations/firms) level, internationalization as an evolving and dynamic process, changes according to researchers’ interests and possibilities to work with their foreign counterparts.

Furthermore, the internationalization of a research cooperation program or an academic activity does not only mean an opportunity but it might also mean that internationalization practices are associated with concerns over the need to

“catch up.” Such concerns might relate to perceptions of exclusion from internationalization activities. These concerns and perception of exclusion might lead to short-term and “low road” approaches to comparative disadvantage.

Countries around the world appear to be following each other’s steps in the pursuit of high-technology competition. However, this popular strategy of pursuing high-technology competition might be misleading and uncertain (Ornston, 2014). “First, high-technology growth is notoriously difficult to stimulate because of the high barriers to entry and the intrinsically uncertain character of these industries” (Ornston, 2014, p.459; Lundvall, 2002, p. 37).

It seems that researchers worldwide are also following each other’s progress and development. This perpetuates a cycle in internationalization where countries follow each other in the internationalization path. However, the act of

“following others” is no longer regarded as unique to developing countries; all countries, developed and developing are focusing on internationalization and turned into observers of each other’s internationalization policies and actions.

One argument is that the more research advanced nations lead the way and the countries with poorer internationalization history will follow. But globalization slightly shifted this pattern as emerging economies like China, Brazil and India are now being followed and the opportunities their markets offer are being sought after.