Fostering Innovation in a Small Open Economy: The Case of the New Zealand Biotechnology Sector

Dan Marsh

Working Papers in Economics from University of Waikato

Abstract: The New Zealand Biotechnology sector is worthy of study for several reasons. While there is a large and growing international literature on economic aspects of biotechnology innovation these studies concentrate on the United States and Europe. The New Zealand biotechnology sector may be expected to develop along a different trajectory as a consequence of a markedly different set of initial and framework conditions. Government has indicated a strong interest in fostering innovation and aims to concentrate on selected areas where New Zealand may be able to develop a new comparative advantage. One such area is biotechnology, which would build on New Zealand’s existing comparative advantage in the primary sector (dairy, forestry, meat, wool and horticulture). This paper describes the preliminary results of an ongoing study that aims to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge of innovation processes in New Zealand while using the international literature as a benchmark. The paper focuses on the drivers of innovation in the biotechnology sector; the role of networks and other linkages; the role of government and industry, the role of human and venture capital, and data from patenting.

Keywords: innovation; innovation system; biotechnology; patents; New Zealand (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L65 L66 O31 O32 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2000-05-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-ino and nep-tid
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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