The Pharma-biotech Complex and Interconnected Regional Innovation Arenas

Christian Zeller

Urban Studies, 2010, vol. 47, issue 13, 2867-2894

Abstract: Large pharmaceutical firms, biotechnology firms, publicly funded research organisations and financial organisations which are inseparably connected and located in a few key regions have built a hierarchical pharma-biotech complex. It is argued that large corporations establish networks to access regionally concentrated knowledge bases. These networks consist of money flows, knowledge and personnel. By establishing such networks, large firms considerably shape and interconnect the development dynamics in the regions in which they have strategic assets. The paper reveals how the economic development trajectories of the urban regions of Basel, New Jersey and Boston are connected by large pharmaceutical firms and the industrial dynamics of the combined pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Such strong corporate networks result in the globally combined and interdependent development of urban regions.

Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:47:y:2010:i:13:p:2867-2894

DOI: 10.1177/0042098010377370

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