Growing The Nations Biotech Sector: State Bioscience Initiatives 2006

This 2006 report presents updated data, examines growth trends, and identifies metropolitan areas with the largest and most concentrated employment in each of the bioscience subsectors identified in the 2004 report. These include agricultural feedstock and chemicals; drugs and pharmaceuticals; medical
devices and equipment; and research, testing and medical laboratories. This report also identifies current key trends in state and regional initiatives to support the biosciences.

Biobusiness: Minnesota’s Present Position and Future Prospects

This report is a compilation of two independent studies conducted during 2005-2006. One study compared Minnesota’s biobusiness sector to 10 other states with similar biobusiness economic growth goals. The other study generated a census of Minnesota’s for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in both industry and academia. The study finds that the Minnesota economy is more dependent upon biobusiness than other states, but is not currently investing enough to remain competitive in the coming years.

Biotechnology Alliances in the European Pharmaceutical Industry: Past, Present and Future

This paper reviews how research collaborations between dedicated biotechnology firms and multinational pharmaceutical companies have changed over the past 25 years. A discussion of the impact that developments in the biotechnology have had on the process of pharmaceutical R&D will set the context for reviewing the various theoretical approaches used to analyse and understand these alliances, identifying changes in the nature of alliances over time and indicating the future in store for dedicated biotechnology firms.

Policy Agents as Catalysts of Knowledge Links in the Biotechnology Sector

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of public policy in promoting interorganisational knowledge links in the biotechnology sector. The paper identifies four main types of knowledge exchange, including market relations, spillovers, formal co-operations and
informal networking. Drawing on evidence from the Vienna biotechnology cluster, the authors intend
to show how national and regional policy programmes and government actions function as mechanisms to stimulate the establishment of such interactions.

Innovation in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology: Comparing National Innovation Systems at the Sectoral Level

This publication examines the innovation system in pharmaceutical biotechnology in eight OECD countries - Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain. The report summarises the results of in-depth studies, providing a comparative analysis of participating countries performance in science and innovation in biopharmaceuticals. It highlights specific characteristics of the national biopharmaceutical innovation systems in terms of their international openness and the specific role of demand-side factors in the innovation process.