Skip to main content
Log in

Where Science Comes to Life: University Bioscience, Commercial Spin-offs, and Regional Economic Development

  • Published:
Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis

Abstract

Biotechnology, rather than being defined as a distinct industry like steelmaking or shipbuilding, is instead a scientific knowledge base—a rapidly evolving technology—that has economically valuable applications in such diverse industries as pharmaceuticals, medical diagnostics, agriculture, bioenvironmental remediation, and chemical processing. Biotechnology has captured the imagination of ambitious scientific investigators and investors seeking high rates of return, as well as state economic development officials who hope to anchor the industry in their locality and reap the industry's economic and employment rewards. Biotech is still at an early stage of its development, and there are many competing hypotheses about its future development. Most importantly, biotechnology involves the commercialization of science resources in which the federal and state governments have made substantial investment. One key question is how to leverage this investment for future economic growth. This article explores the policy issue related to the commercialization of biotechnology, its role as an engine of economic development, and the appropriate public policy response.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Association of University Technology Managers, Inc. (AUTM). (1997). AUTM Licensing Survey Fiscal Year 1996 Survey Summary. Norwalk, CT.

  • Audretsch, D. B. and M. P. Feldman. (1996). “R&D Spillovers and the Geography of Innovation and Production.” American Economic Review 86 (3), 630–640.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, Michael, David C. Mowery, and Arvids A. Ziedonis. (1997). “The Geographic Reach of Market and Nonmarket Channels of Technology Transfer: Comparing Citations and Licenses of University Patents.” Presented at the Academy of Management. Boston, August 11.

  • Blumenthal, David, Michael Gluck, Karen Seashore Louis, and David Wise. (1986a). “Industrial Support of University Research in Biotechnology.” Science 23: 242–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumenthal, David, Michael Gluck, Karen Seashore Louis, and David Wise. (1986b). “University-Industry Research Relationships in Biotechnology: Implications for the University.” Science 23: 1361–1366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, Howard Rothmann. (1997). Investment in Learning: The Individual and Social Value of American Higher Education. Baltimore, MD. Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, Burton R. (1983). The Higher Education System. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, Burton. (1998). Creating Entrepreneurial Universities. Oxford, Great Britain: International Association of Universities and Elsevier Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connolly, Martha, Maryann Feldman, Lori Gerstley, and Gail Mangels. (1998). “Biosciences in Maryland: A Closer Look.” Frederick, MD: MDBio.

    Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, Henry. (1983). “Entrepreneurial Scientists and Entrepreneurial Universities in American Academic Science.” Minerva 21: 198–233.

    Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, Henry. (1989). “Entrepreneurial Science in the Academy: A Case of the Transformation of Norms.” Social Problems 36 (1): 14–29, 36- 50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. P. (1994). “The University and High-Technology Start-ups: The Case of Johns Hopkins University and Baltimore.” The Economic Development Quarterly 8: 67–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. P. (1999). “The New Economics of Innovation, Spillovers and Agglomeration: A Review of Empirical Studies.” The Economics of Innovation and New Technology 8: 5–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. P. (in press). “The New Economics of Innovation, Spillovers and Agglomeration: A Review of Empirical Studies.” Economics of Innovation and New Technology.

  • Feldman, M. P. and R. Florida. (1994). “The Geographic Sources of Innovation: Technological Infrastructure and Product Innovation in the United States.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 84, 210–229.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. P. and O. Pfirrmann. (1998). The Diffusion of Knowledge in Biotechnology. Paper presented to the 1998 APPAM research conference. New York, NY, October 30.

  • Feldman, M. P. and C. R. Ronzio. (2001). “Closing the Innovative Loop: Moving from the Lab to the Shop Floor in Biotech.” Entrepreneurship and Regional Development 13: 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. P., I. Feller, J. E. L. Bercowitz, and R. M. Burton. (2001). “Understanding Evolving University-Industry Relationships.” In M. P. Feldman and A. N. Link (Eds.), Innovation Policy in the Knowledge Based Economy. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 171–188.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feller, Irwin. (1990). “Universities as Engines of R&D-based Economic Growth: They Think They Can.” Research Policy 19: 335–348.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fenn, G. W., N. Liang, and S. Prowse. (1995). “The Economics of Private Equity Markets.” Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, D. C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geiger, Roger and Irwin Feller. (1995). “The Dispersion of Academic Research in the 1980s.” Journal of Higher Education 66 (3): 336–360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goetz, S. and R. S. Morgan. (1995). “State-Level Locational Determinants of Biotechnology Firms.” Economic Development Quarterly 9 (2): 174–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haug, P. and P. Ness. (1993). “Industrial Location Decisions of Biotechnology Organizations.” Economic Development Quarterly 4 (7), 390–402.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, R., A. Jaffe, and M. Trajtenberg. (1998). “Universities as a Source of Commercial Technology: A Detailed Analysis of University Patenting, 1965- 1988.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 80: 119–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaffe, Adam B. (1989). “Real Effects of Academic Research.” American Economic Review 79 (5): 957–970.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaffe, A. and M. Trajtenberg. (1996). “Flows of Knowledge from Universities and Federal Labs: Modeling the Flows of Patent Citations over Time and Across Institutional and Geographic Boundaries” Working Paper 5712, NBER.

  • Jaffe, A. B, M. Trajtenberg, and R. Henderson. (1993). “Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 108 (3): 577–598.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krugman, P. (1991a). “Increasing Returns and Economic Geography.” Journal of Political Economy 99 (3): 483–499.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krugman, P. (1991b). Geography and Trade. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, K. and G. S. Burrill. (1995). Biotech 96: Pursuing Sustainability. The Tenth Industry Annual Report. Palo Alto, CA: Ernst & Young LLP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, K. and G. S. Burrill. (1996). Biotech 97: Alignment. The Eleventh Industry Annual Report. Palo Alto, CA: Ernst & Young LLP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Link, Albert N. (1995). A Generosity of Spirit: The Early History of the Research Triangle Park. Chapel Hill, NC. Research Triangle Foundation.

  • Louis, Karen Seashore, David Blumenthal, Michael E. Gluck, and Michael A. Stoto. (1989). “Entrepreneurs in Academe: an Exploration of Behaviors among Life Scientists.” Administrative Science Quarterly, March, pp. 110–131.

  • Lucas, Robert E. Jr. (1993). “Making a Miracle.” Econometrica 61 (2): 251–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R. R. (2001). “Observations of the Bost-Bayh-Dole Rise in University Patenting.” In M. P. Feldman and A. N. Link (Eds.), Innovation Policy in the Knowledge Based Economy. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 165–170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell, Walter W, and Peter Brantley. (1992). “Competitive Cooperation in Biotechnology: Learning Through Networks?” In N. Nohria and R. G. Eccles (eds.), Networks and Organizations: Structure, Form and Action. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, pp. 366–394.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell, Walter W, and Jason Owen-Smith. (1998). “Universities and the Market for Intellectual Property in the Life Sciences.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 17 (2): 253–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prevezer, Martha. (1997). “The Dynamics of Industrial Clustering in Biotechnology.” Small Business Economics 9: 255–271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raffa, M., G. Zollo, and R. Caponi. (1996). “The Development Process of Small Firms.” Entrepreneurship and Regional Development 8: 359–371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raider, Holly. (1998). “Repeated Exchange and Evidence of Trust in the Substance Contract.”Working paper, Columbia University.

  • Raymond, S. (ed.). (1996). The Technology Link to Economic Development. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 787. New York: New York Academy of Sciences.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romer, P. (1986). “Increasing Returns and Long-Run Growth.” Journal of Political Economy 94 (5): 1002–1037.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romer, P. (1990). “Endogenous Technological Change.” Journal of Political Economy 94 (1): 71–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruedig, Nicole. (1996). “A Daring Science Career: Start Your Own Company.” Science 273: 14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabourin, V. and I. Pinsonneault. (1997). “Strategic Formation of Competitive High Technology Clusters.” International Journal of Technology Management 13 (2): 165–178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saxenian, A. (1994). Regional Advantage. Boston: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, A. J. (1993). Technopolis: High-Technology Industry and Regional Development in Southern California. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sitkin, Sim B. (1992). “Learning Through Failure: The Strategy of Small Losses.” Research in Organizational Behavior 14: 231–266.

    Google Scholar 

  • Storper, M. (1995). “Regional Technology Coalitions: An Essential Dimension of National Technology Policy.” Research Policy 24: 895–911.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turney, Jon. (1991). “What Drives the Engines of Innovation?” New Scientist, November 16, pp. 35–40.

  • Wade, Nicholas. (1984). The Science Business. New York: Priority Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, James D. (1981). The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA. New York, NY: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Werth, Barry. (1994). The Billion Dollar Molecule. New York: Simon and Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, L. G. and M. R. Darby. (1996). “Star Scientists and Institutional Transformation: Patterns of Invention and Innovation in the Formation of the Biotechnology Industry.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 93 (November): 12709–12716.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, L. G., M. R. Darby, and M. B. Brewer. (1997). “Intellectual Human Capital and the Birth of U. S. Biotechnology Enterprises.” American Economic Review 88 (1): 290–306.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, L. G., M. R. Darby, and J. Armstrong. (1998). “Geographically Localized Knowledge: Spillovers or Markets?” Economic Inquiry 36 (1): 65–86.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Feldman, M.P. Where Science Comes to Life: University Bioscience, Commercial Spin-offs, and Regional Economic Development. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis 2, 345–361 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011489124123

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011489124123

Navigation