The biotechnology industry is now a top priority of state and regional economic development organizations. Existing geographic research focuses on what motivates the development of regional clusters of biotechnology firms in the area of human therapeutics and diagnostics. However, the biotechnology industry is segmented into broad subsectors, such as health and agricultural biotech, and each sector has different types of firms. The purpose of this paper is to characterize firm-specific differences that exist between health and agricultural biotechnology firms. Specifically, we use a survey instrument to understand how firms in each sector perceive and use different forms of collaboration and location factors in their operations. Although firms in each sector may pursue similar goals and support for innovation, they do not necessarily do so in the same fashion. By treating agricultural and health biotechnology sectors separately, we offer new evidence to reevaluate theories explaining regional biotechnology development, and new insights into how development policies impact each sector. The insights provided by this paper are critical given the prevalence of policy initiatives supporting biotechnology.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AcsZAudretschA B, 1988, “Innovation in large and small firms: An empirical analysis”The American Economic Review78678–690
2.
AcsZAudretschD BFeldmanM, 1994, “R&D spillovers and recipient firm size”The Review of Economics and Statistics76336–340
3.
AnselinLVargaAAcsZ, 1997, “Local geographic spillovers between university research and high technology innovations”Journal of Urban Economics43422–448
4.
ArgyresN SLiebeskindJ P, 1998, “Privatizing the intellectual commons: Universities and the commercialization of biotechnology”Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization35427–454
5.
ArgyresN SLiebeskindJ P, 2002, “Governance inseparability and the evolution of US biotechnology industry”Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization47197–219
AudretschA BFeldmanM, 2003, “Small-firm strategic research partnerships: The case of biotechnology”Technology Analysis and Strategic Management. 15273–288
8.
Bagchi-SenSScullyJ, 2004, “The Canadian environment for innovation and business development in the biotechnology industry: A firm-level analysis”European Planning Studies12961–983
9.
Bagchi-SenSScullyJ, 2007, “Strategies and external relationships of small and medium-sized enterprises in the US agricultural biotechnology sector”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy25844–860
10.
Bagchi-SenSLawton-SmithHHallL, 2004, “The US biotechnology industry: Industry dynamics and policy”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy22199–216
11.
BaptistaRSwannP, 1998, “Do firms in clusters innovate more?”Research Policy27525–540
12.
Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, 2008, “Talent, technology, and capital: State bioscience initiatives 2008”, Battelle Memorial Institute for Biotechnology Industry Organization, http://www.bio.org
13.
Biotechnology Industry Organization, 2004, “Laboratories of innovation: State bioscience initiatives 2004”, Battelle Memorial Institute and State Science and Technology Institute, http://www.bio.org/local/battelle2004/
14.
BraczykHCookePHeidenreichM, (Eds), 1998Regional Innovation Systems (UCL Press, London)
15.
BreschiSLissoniF, 2003, “Mobility and social networks: Localized knowledge spillovers revisited” WP 142, Centre for Knowledge, Internationalization and Technology Studies, Bocconi University, Milan
16.
ChatawayJTaitJWieldD, 2004, “Understanding company strategies in agro-biotechnology: Trajectories and blind spots”Research Policy331041–1057
17.
CheshirePMaleckiE, 2004, “Growth, development and innovation: A look backward and forward”Papers in Regional Science83249–267
18.
ChiesaVTolettiG, 2004, “Network of collaborations for innovation: The case of biotechnology”Technology Analysis and Strategic Management1673–96
19.
ClarkJ, 2006, “The institutional limits of multifunctional agriculture: Subnational governance and regional systems of innovation”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy24331–349
20.
CookeP, 2001, “Regional innovation systems, clusters, and the knowledge economy”Industrial and Corporate Change10945–974
21.
CookeP, 2004a, “Life sciences clusters and regional science policy”Urban Studies411113–1131
22.
CookeP, 2004b, “Regional knowledge capabilities, embeddedness of firms and industry organisation: Bioscience megacentres and economic geography”European Planning Studies12625–641
23.
CoombsJDeedsD, 2002, “International alliance as sources of capital: Evidence from the biotechnology industry”The Journal of High Technology Management Research11235–253
24.
CrescenziRRodríguez-PoseAStorperM, 2007, “The territorial dynamics of innovation: A Europe-United States comparative analysis”Journal of Economic Geography7673–709
25.
FeldmanMFrancisJ L, 2003, “Fortune favours the prepared region: The case of entrepreneurship and the capital region biotechnology cluster”European Planning Studies11765–788
26.
GertlerM S, 1995, “Being there: Proximity, organization, and culture in the development and adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies”Economic Geography711–26
27.
GertlerM SLevitteY M, 2005, “Local nodes in global networks: The geography of knowledge flows in biotechnology innovation”Industry and Innovation12487–507
28.
GraffGRauserGSmallA, 2003, “Agricultural biotechnology's complementary intellectual assets”The Review of Economics and Statistics85349–363
29.
GreisN PDibnerM DBeanA S, 1995, “External partnering as a response to innovation barriers and global competition in biotechnology”Research Policy24609–630
30.
LiebeskindJ POliverA LZuckerLBrewerM, 1996, “Social networks, learning, and flexibility: Sourcing scientific knowledge in new biotechnology firms”Organization Science7428–443
MartinRSunleyP, 2006, “Path dependence and regional economic evolution”Journal of Economic Geography6395–437
33.
MartinRSunleyP, 2007, “Complexity thinking and evolutionary economic geography”Journal of Economic Geography7573–601
34.
MaskellPMalmbergA, 2007, “Myopia, knowledge and cluster evolution”Journal of Economic Geography7603–618
35.
MetcalfeSRamloganR, 2005, “Innovation systems and the competitive process in developing countries”, paper prepared for ‘Regulation, Competition and Income Distribution: Latin American Experiences’, joint conference organized and sponsored by the University of Illinois, University of Manchester, and University of Sao Paulo, Paraty, Brazil, 18-21 November, http://www.competition-regulation.org.uk/conferences/Brazil/Papers/Metcalfe_Ramlogan.pdf
36.
NiosiJBasT, 2001, “The competencies of regions: Canada's clusters in biotechnology”Small Business Economics1731–42
37.
PapaioannouTWieldDChatawayJ, 2009, “Knowledge ecologies and ecosystems? An empirically grounded reflection on recent development in innovation systems theory”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy27319–339
38.
PowellW W, 1990, “Neither market nor hierarchy: Network forms of organization”Research in Organizational Behavior12295–336
39.
PowellW W, 1998, “Learning from collaboration: Knowledge and networks in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries”California Management Review40228–240
40.
PowellW WSmith-DoerrL, 1996, “Inter-organizational collaboration and the locus of innovation: Networks of learning in biotechnology”Administrative Sciences Quarterly41116–145
41.
PowellW WKoputK WBowieJ ISmith-DoerrL, 2002, “The spatial clustering of science and capital: Accounting for biotech firm-venture capital relationships”Regional Studies36291–205
42.
PrevezerM, 2001, “Ingredients in the early development of the US biotechnology industry”Small Business Economics1717–29
43.
RyanC DPhillipsP W B, 2004, “Knowledge management in advanced technology industries: An examination of international agricultural biotechnology clusters”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy22217–232
44.
SwannG M PPrevezerMStoutD, 1998The Dynamics of Industrial Clustering: International Comparisons in Computing and Biotechnology (Oxford University Press, Oxford)
45.
ZuckerL, 1991, “Markets for bureaucratic authority and control: Information quality in professions and services”Research in the Sociology of Organizations8157–190
