AbstractThe widespread fear that the growing internationalisation of technology means that technological follower countries can acquire scientific discoveries and technological innovations more cheaply than leader countries turns out to be groundless. So-called followers' (Germany and Japan) have been spending relatively more on R&D than so-called ‘leaders’ (UK and USA) for more than 20 years. And Japanese firms rely much more extensively on the Japanese science base, than on any other country's. The conditions for successful invention and innovation are very similar to those for imitation; imitation across national boundaries is not cheap or easy; and the infrastructure for innovation in the UK must be maintained at internationally best-practice levels.