Corporate Technological Specialisation in the European Information and Communications Technology Industry

Abstract

This paper aims to test whether the same technological characteristics specific to the European ICT industry emerged over time in terms of large firms' profiles of specialisation. Against the background of an ongoing European integration process, the analysis takes into account the role played by country-specific factors. The increasing overlap between the ICT technological specialisation profiles of European multi-nationals seems to be the major finding of this paper. European technology policy might be identified as one of the factors explaining this pattern without, however, disregarding the broad impact of European integration, which has increased the extent of market-based and technology-based interaction between firms.