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Within the context of global production the interactions among endogenous and foreign firms and their respective innovation systems, as well as strategic governmental policies favouring the exchange, may give rise to either virtuous or vicious circles of development through technological spillovers (Cantwell 1989, 1995a; Perez 1998), therefore, the foreign factor should be considered an important component within the triple helix paradigm in developing countries. This paper argues that in developing countries foreign direct investment is a factor needed within the triple helix paradigm as it may catalyzes some technology transfer and through its operations may create certain synergy that favours innovation, entrepreneurship and even the planning of a technological learning process in the host country. In order to develop the argument, this paper presents the case of the electronics cluster of Jalisco, Mexico.