The objective of this paper is to examine biotechnology innovation systems at both national and regional levels in six leading innovative ountries: the US, Japan, Germany, UK, France and Canada. First, this work presents an in-depth analysis of biotechnology national innovation systems (NIS), providing detailed cross-country comparisons and highlighting particular features of national institutional context which affect flows of scientific knowledge. In this research, biotech NIS is characterized by industry size, innovative activities, area of specialization, industry structure, national policy and the level of government intervention. Moreover, the stock of knowledge in universities, knowledge transfer from universities to industry, country-specific conditions for start-ups and stock of knowledge in industry are discussed in detail in this study. Second, in each of the studied countries we focus on several regions which are very active in terms of biotechnology innovations and provide their detailed characterization in the context of regional innovation systems. Finally, the comparative analysis at both national and regional levels is carried out and the conclusions are drawn.
This work is primarily based on the extensive survey of literature and various other documents and sources, and on the quantitative analysis of the biotech-related patent data extracted from United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). We gathered all the biotechnology patents registered in the USPTO and carried out a detailed quantitative analysis of the ones in which at least one of the inventors resides in one of the studied countries. The empirical analysis provided us with numerous insights and greatly complemented the data we gained from the literature and other sources.
The uniqueness of this study comes from its scope, which involves the concurrent detailed analysis of both national and regional innovation systems. Considering both of the levels provided us with a deeper understanding of the innovation systems and allowed us to better define, distinguish, appreciate and compare the importance and the distinct roles played by national and regional policies in different countries. Moreover, we were able to identify the real and potential synergies coming from the aligned decisions made at national and regional levels, and to evaluate their ability to stimulate the creation of innovation. We propose that considering both national and regional levels provides a more solid basis for the comparative analysis of biotechnology innovation systems. This study can benefit science and technology policy makers to foster innovative performance, overall competitiveness and consequently economic growth.