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Transfer or generation? Biotechnology and local-industry development

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Abstract

This paper examines the local (regional) economic-development aspects of the emerging biotechnology industry and considers the relative importance of generationoriented policies over transfer-oriented policies. Results from a study of the biotechnology industry in California are used to support the analysis. Basically, it was found that there is a complex industrial ecology associated with biotechnology. The firms choose to locate neither randomly nor entirely in order to be close to similar firms. Rather, it appears that they emerge in locations that have a nurturing biotechnology milieu. The presence of a critical biotechnology human-resource base creates its own dynamic, which diffuses into the surrounding medical, electronic, and other related industries. Thus, what develops is a local biotechnology-generation complex. Technology transfer's role seems to be subsidiary to the process of technology generation in the area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of City and Regional Planning at University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, USA

    Edward J. Blakely Ph.D. (chair)

  2. the Institute of Urban and Regional Development at University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, USA

    Kelvin W. Willoughby Ph.D. (research associate)

  3. Graduate School of Management at the University of Western Australia, Australia

    Kelvin W. Willoughby Ph.D. (research associate)

Authors
  1. Edward J. Blakely Ph.D.
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  2. Kelvin W. Willoughby Ph.D.
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Additional information

He is an international authority on local economic development and technology. His latest book isPlanning Local Economic Development, published by Sage in 1989.

His field of research is economic-development planning, technology policy, and strategic planning. He currently is conducting a major study of the biotechnology industry in New York for the Center for Biotechnology at the State University of New York, Stonybrook.

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Blakely, E.J., Willoughby, K.W. Transfer or generation? Biotechnology and local-industry development. J Technol Transfer 15, 31–38 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02371521

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