Evolutionary Innovations : The Business of Biotechnology

A study of the commercial development and uses of genetic engineering from the 1970s onwards. The author focuses on Genentech in the US and Kabi in Sweden, comparing their initiatives, activities and organization as they brought knowledge to the market on insulin and human growth hormone.

This book examines the initial commercial uses of genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is one of the most modern, controversial and dynamic of the science-based technologies. It is not an object, but a set of techniques or way of doing things. The development of these technologies from the 1970s onwards illustrates the changing relationships between universities and firms, and between basic science and research oriented towards commercial uses. The main focus of the book is on two firms–Genentech in the United States and Kabi in Sweden and their activities and ''knowledge-seeking'' behaviour in the development of human growth hormone and how those ran in parallel with university science. IEvolutionary Innovations was awarded the Schumpeter Society book proze in 1996. This paperback edition includes a new introduction in which the author reflects upon the most recent developments in biotechnology. The book will be of interest to a wide audience concerned to understand the complexities of innovation processes in the ''knowledge society'', for example, management and organization researchers, economists, policy advisors, and managers and strategists responsible for turning knowledge into product and profit.