The significance of European small country regions in the geographical division of labour of European Information and Communications Technology (ICT) corporations

In spite of the development of information and communications technology (ICT), MNCs seem to be highly sensitive to untraded externalities and localised knowledge spillovers in their location strategy. Therefore, in an age in which space and time constraints have been reduced (or even eliminated) by the fast pace of technological change, proximity still matters. Within the global-local nexus debate, the role played in the development of ICT by regions from European small countries has been neglected. Using regionalised patent data granted in the USA to large electronic firms for their European-located research, the aim of this paper is twofold. First of all, the significance of a region- over a nation-state-based analysis is argued. Second, the interaction between local and foreign corporate technological development in small country regions is investigated in order to evaluate the role of these locations in the geographical division of labour in European-owned ICT multinationals.