On the R&D giants’ shoulders: do FDI help to stand on them?

We investigate the impact of outward Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) on the Multinational Corporations technological leadership, meant as the capacity of entering and remaining among the top Research & Development (R&D) world investors. The research hypotheses are formulated by distinguishing FDI in R&D from FDI in other economic activities. The findings support our hypotheses with respect to the top R&D circles of the European Industrial Research and Innovation Scoreboard. Increasing the number of FDI projects in R&D makes the entrance in these circles more probable. The same holds true for non-R&D FDI, but with a lower impact. The number of R&D–FDI also reduces the probability of exiting from the circles, while that of non-R&D ones does not. These results are robust when the value of FDI projects in R&D is considered, apart from their impact on the exit from the circles, which appears to vanish. Although with caveats, the policy support to R&D internationalization provides companies with a sustainable competitive advantage in the race for the most substantial R&D investments and for the entailed economic and financial benefits.