Perception of the risks and benefits of Bt eggplant by Indian farmers

Several researchers—most notably Lennart Sjoberg and his colleagues—have proposed that the moral aspects of risk provide a better explanation of risk perception than the psychometric paradigm or Cultural Theory, neither of which accounts for moral concerns. This study is possibly the first to assess empirically the perception of the risks and benefits of a transgenic food crop—transgenic Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) eggplant—by farmers in a developing country such as India. It also aims to assess if the moral aspects of risk figure in Indian farmers' perception of Bt eggplant and if economic benefits outweigh perceived risks. To answer the research questions, a scenario was used to elicit perceptions of Bt eggplant among 100 eggplant farmers in the state of Maharashtra in India. The findings indicate that economic benefits, safety concerns, and accountability are most salient to Indian farmers' perception of the risks and benefits of Bt eggplant. Significantly, none of the farmers mentioned moral concerns as an issue. The findings also make clear that economic benefits outweigh perceived risks. This study concludes that economic benefits are more salient than moral concerns to Indian farmers' perception Bt eggplant. It also proposes that an alternative theoretical model incorporating economic benefits, safety concerns, and accountability as key variables should be developed and tested for end users in the developing world.     

'The Navigator Network': a New Zealand futurewatch case study

New Zealand's 'Navigator Network' is a national scanning network of scientists and policy analysts providing 'early alert' advice about emerging areas of science and technology. It was established by the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST) to enhance the government's readiness to respond to the opportunities and risks around new technologies, particularly in biotechnology and nanotechnology. The Navigator Network has been tailored to the New Zealand context, which is characterised by a small, well-connected government sector and a strong focus on agricultural biotechnology and food. The network builds on these features, and is 'people-centric' rather than 'information-centric', using dialogic approaches to generate new knowledge between diverse stakeholder groups. It also focuses on building futures capability in the government and science sectors. Representatives from government agencies are integrated into the process as scanners to facilitate uptake. It also has an adaptive development process via an action learning component.     

生物技术产业的特征及作用

生物技术产业属于高技术、高投入、高风险和高回报的行业,因其前期投入大、科技含量高、生产工艺复杂、质量要求严格、受国家扶持,所以进入壁垒高、垄断性强、利润丰厚,蕴藏着巨大的经济潜能。生物技术产业的作用是：改善医疗卫生水平;解决粮食短缺问题;对传统工业的改造;加快改变能源格局。     

生物制药产业技术轨道变迁与机会分析

以传统化学制药产业为比较基础,归纳了生物制药产业中顺序出现的三条技术轨道——"现代生物技术作为生产工具"、"现代生物技术作为搜寻工具"和"全面整合",分析了不同技术轨道所依赖的企业关键能力,明确了企业参与产业创新的机会以及由此引发的产业竞争态势变革。最后预测了生物制药产业中未来可能出现的技术轨道——"理论+实验",指出了该技术轨道所依赖的企业关键能力、提供的创新机会和可能导致的产业竞争新态势。     

Using the functional analysis to understand the emergence of biomaterials within an existing biotechnology system: observations from a case study in Turkey

ABSTRACT

The paper applies a functional approach to the analysis of an emerging technology within an innovation system (IS) in a developing country. By doing so, the paper identifies the advantages and drawbacks of the approach through a dynamic analysis and highlights the life cycle of an IS within which a new technology is emerging. This is done empirically by analysing the emergence of biosimilars within the infant Turkish biotechnology system mainly from the perspective of firms. Our analysis of the Turkish case illustrates how the tool of functional approach could be valuable in understanding the dynamics of a technology in a developing country context. Policy suggestions and implications of the study are presented as concluding remarks.     

Exploring the effect of structural patent indicators in forward patent citation networks on patent price from firm market value

This paper introduces structural patent indicators in the forward patent citation networks (FPCNs). Using the estimates of their relationship with firm market value, it explores the effect of the structural patent indicators on patent price. When applied to US smartphone industry and US drug and biotechnology industry, the common finding is that a firm's registered patent gets higher price if influenced faster by the previously registered patents of the same firm through self-citations. The empirical results imply that merely counting forward citations, shown related to patent price by the previous works, is insufficient; the structural properties in FPCNs are essential for the more accurate estimation of patent price. They also show that the relationships between structural patent indicators in the FPCNs and patent price are different between industries. It urges the necessity of selecting structural patent indicators, well fitted to each industry, for the better patent valuation using forward citations.     

The Expanding Techniques of Progress: Agricultural Biotechnology and UN-REDD+

This paper provides a comparative analysis of agricultural biotechnology and the United Nations program for reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). Despite the existing differences between the technical manipulation of biological systems and a conservation program aimed at reducing carbon and protecting forests, the two share commonalities in ideological origin, application, and values. Presented as positive developments, both seek to address large-scale issues such as global hunger and climate change, but while receiving national and international support they remain controversial issues. Both issues are critically assessed, beginning with a brief history, followed by the application of William Dugger's four invaluation processes: contamination, subordination, emulation, and mystification. This approach unravels the subtle social power of state and market forces that seek to control genetic material and forest frontiers as new outlets for growth and investment.     

Biotechnology as a low-level-of-coherence policy priority: effectual-targeting and the need for learning and experimentation capabilities

During the last two decades, policymakers in various positions have been adopting a systems-approach to policy thinking. However, in contrast with the quasi-evolutionary way in which policy is thought of and conceptualised it seems that policy doing is still being guided by ‘market-failure’ justifications causing actual policies to remain narrow in their scope. In this paper we sidestep this analytical divide of thinking/doing by developing a co-evolutionary framework that utilises a more productive analytical divide of means/ends. That is to say we focus on a process of co-evolution of a higher-order, one which takes place ‘inside’ the agent of policy herself, and involves changes in the ways ‘means’ and ‘ends’ are understood and acted upon. Conceptualising policy problems in terms of means/ends contributes to current debates by rendering the difficulty that countries are facing in their attempts to prioritise biotechnology more intelligible and thus manageable.     

Evolutionary policy targeting: towards a conceptual framework for effective policy intervention

This special issue reflects on innovation and industrial policy from the premise that economic growth can be based on the permanent transformation of an economic system via the emergence and/or transformation of multi-agent structures and their inherent competences and knowledge base. The process of emergence or transformation is conceived as being the result of entrepreneurial effort, or entrepreneurs reacting to external stimuli in a way that takes advantage of an evolving knowledge base. The same process, however, can be undermined by both market and institutional failures. Past research has clearly indicated the importance of institutional structures for innovation, but also that structures as they exist may not be ideal: some institutions involved in innovation may provide the wrong incentives, faulty information, or allocate insufficient resources to accomplish their goals or mandates; and they may fail to reduce uncertainty. The paper asks whether and how a targeted, co-evolutionary approach can help overcome a lack of dynamic coordination and other failures that originate in coincidence with the emergence of a complex form of industrial organisation, be it an innovation system, cluster or a new industrial sector. More specifically, it builds upon the extended industry life cycle (EILC) model and the notion of evolutionary targeting to explore the potential benefits (and drawbacks) of targeting biotechnology innovation systems (BISs).     

Impact of initial seeds on the growth of biotechnology startups: evidence from the U.S. and Japan

ABSTRACT

We assess the impact of initial seeds on the long-run growth of biotechnology startups, including the response of the capital market, in the U.S. and Japan. For this purpose, we collected a comprehensive dataset of the matched sample of listed firms from their foundations to the post-IPO period. We find that the quality of initial seeds predicts significantly both the level and the growth rate of the patent stock as well as those of the asset size of the U.S. startups, even controlling for their alliances and acquisitions, while it predicts only the level of the patent stock for the Japanese startups. Furthermore, the asset growth and the patent stock growth in turn account for the market value performances of the U.S. firms much more significantly than those of the Japanese firms. On the other hand, there are only small differences with respect to the time to IPO and the asset growth through the IPO. These results suggest that higher quality of initial seeds significantly enhanced long-run growth of biotechnology startups in the U.S. but not in Japan, and that the differences in fertility of the initial seeds and in efficiency of the capital market could significantly explain the difference.