Technology transfer: an assessment of the major institutional vehicles for diffusion of U.S. biotechnology

Abstract

Investment in U.S. biotechnology has been sizable. Because of this and the perceived global biotechnology race among the U.S.A., Europe and Japan, ‘technology transfer’ has become a leitmotif of government, corporate and academic technology policies. However, actual diffusion of U.S. biotechnology has been left to market forces. This assessment of the two major vehicles for technology transfer to date—public equity and the established pharmaceutical companies—suggests they both require careful monitoring. Public equity is the early adopter, but its volatility puts pressure on managers for short-term payoff. The established pharmaceutical companies are the late adopters and, in their bureaucratic stolidity, put pressure on managers for marketing efficiency. The end result may be managerial risk aversion in the very system we depend on for innovation.