The social and economic dimensions of biotechnology: An introduction

The UK is widely perceived to be already relatively successful in the economic performance of its  edgling biotechnology activity. It has signiŽ cant numbers of specialist biotechnology start-up companies, and its major pharmaceutical companies are leaders in the development and application of the technology. Allied to this, its science base makes a major contribution to the underpinning knowledge base through activities such as the Human Genome Project. So amongst the key ingredients of UK success, then, are a pre-existing strong pharmaceuticals sector, effective capital markets and good universities. But other countries are also busy assembling these ingredients. Indeed, it could truly be said that the biotechnology sector is the Ž rst science-intensive set of industrial activities which has been truly globalized ‘from birth’. The highly networked character of current biotechnology activity, coupled with the growing maturity of the information technology systems which can facilitate distributed working, creates a very positive framework for a genuinely global division of labour in biotechnology research and development (R&D). This is already evident in the behaviour of Ž rms in the USA and Europe. In the near future, countries with large populations, extensive arable land, constructive regulation and signiŽ cant scientiŽ cally skilled people may have comparative advantages in participating in this globalized division of labour. Biotechnology is similar to information and communications technology (ICT) in the sense that it creates many generic technology platforms that can change the possibilities for goods and services across a wide range of industries. We have seen this for ICT in telecommunications, entertainment, Ž nancial services, retailing and many other sectors. For biotechnology, the obvious targets are pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, agriculture, food, materials technology, environmental technology, sensors and so on. In terms of maturity, however, the biotechnology ‘wave’ of structural change in advanced economies is still in its early stages by comparison with ICT. Most of the economic effects are concen-