Health Biotechnology in China

Currently the advancement of biotechnology has a high priority in economic development strategies of many countries. Growing ecnomies as the People’s Republic of China have shown their ambitions in that topic though their five-year plan for science and technology (2011-2015). In recent years, China has already massively increased their investments in research and development, meanwhile the amount of biotechnology-patents experienced an enormous increase, too. However, conclusions for the innovative capacity of the chinese sector can only be drawn in a limited extent. It is not apparent how the organization of this sector influences the production, diffusion and commercial use of biotechnological knowledge.

Meanwhile, there is a considerable number of country studies available which contribute the identification of different national forms of organization and their performance in the biotechnology sector.
It is interesting that China is still an outsider, although the international community has recognized china’s massive efforts. Prof. Dr. Markus Taube and Marcus Conlé (MSM/INEAST) want to close that knowledge gap.
Because of the funding of The Main Research Area, a short stay in Beijing and Shanghai in february 2010 was possible. Because of that, first explorative interviews with companys and research institutions were possible.

Through these interviews and the analyze of secondary sources, the scientists found out that, in contrast to the USA, Great Britain or England 1) universities and research institutions cover a bigger radius in the diffusion of knowledge, also concerning their contribution to business start-up’s, 2) it is conspicuous that many biotech-companies choose an integrated expansion strategy of settling the usual „dedicated biotechnology firms“ with their specialization in research and development. 3) these firms are, despite their small size, mostly multiregional organized. 4) cooperation between chinese companies is rarely, 5) multinational pharmaceutical companies have influence on the development of chinese biopharmaceutical industry, because they offer possibilites for cooperation and local specialization.
An article which concludes these observations and first explanations is already accepted for a special edition of the magazine „Chinese Management Studies“.
In addition to that, right now, the scientists prepare an application for a project financed by the German Research Foundation to test their findings with structured interviews and to get more into the topic. So far, the analyze has already demonstrated that the research in that area may contribute to the discussion about the chinese way of capitalism.