U.S. National Innovation System for Biotechnology: From the Korean Perspectives

Biotechnology is the generic technology in the 21st century. It has a strategic importance for the development of companies, industries and nations in the near future. Therefore, many countries have been making a great effort to promote and develop biotechnology. U.S. has been the leading country in the world in promoting biotechnology. However, U.S. biotechnology policy are very diverse, so that there have been no comprehensive and systematic studies on it. In our paper, therefore, we will discuss the U.S. biotechnology policy in detail. For the effective analysis, we will rely on the concept of national innovation system, which emphasize the institutional settings of innovation actors and their interaction. This paper deals with U.S. national innovation system for biotechnology. We will analyze the role of major actors, academia, public research institutes, and industry and their interaction. According to our study, the U.S. biotechnological innovation system is composed of diverse actors and there are lots of start-up companies in biotechnology industry. In addition, there are many diverse policy programs for promoting biotechnology. In the analysis of U.S. biotechnological system and policy, we would like to maintain the Korean perspectives. Because of country-specific frame conditions, Korea and USA have different institutional settings and policies for promoting biotechnology. Therefore, our paper will render meaningful implications for Korea and USA. We also think that this paper will be of interest for international readers.