Factors Affecting the Partnership between Public and Private Sectors in Developing Agricultural Biotechnology

Agricultural experts in the field of biotechnology in Iran were surveyed in order to explore their perception about factors affecting the partnership between public and private sector in developing agricultural biotechnology. The research population included Agricultural biotechnology experts in the public and private sectors (N=66). A series of in-depth interviews were conducted with some biotechnology experts in the Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute to examine the validity of questionnaire. A questionnaire was developed based on these interviews and relevant literature. The data collected by interviewing the respondents and analyzed by using factor analysis technique. To determine the appropriateness of data and measure the homogeneity of variables, the Kaiser- Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett’s test measures were applied. KMO amount and meaningful level of Bartlett test for policy making and economic factors shows that they are very suitable for factorial analysis. Based on the results of study, intellectual property rights and allocating low interest rate financial facilities to private companies affected the partnership between public and private sector.