Search

Preparing students to be critical thinkers and effective communicators is essential in today's multinational and technologically sophisticated environment. New electronic technologies provide opportunities for creating learning environments that extend the possibilities of "old" but still essential technologies: books, blackboards, and linear, one-way communication media. Such technologies contribute to engagement and meaningful learning in the higher education sector. Greater understanding in educational psychology and the effectiveness of educational interventions has motivated the development of various student-centred pedagogies (e.g. Problem-Based Learning [PBL]) addressing perceived shortcomings of traditional didactic instruction. PBL as a pedagogy promotes meaningful learning due largely to its power to stimulate critical, reflective and creative thinking. Can teaching staff, then, adopt technology-based approaches to create multi-disciplinary interactive PBL environments that enhance learning and excite students, inspiring them to take ownership of their own education? This paper presents a cross-case analysis of four cases that explore how classroom-based learning activities have been transferred to online formats in universities to improve critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and other learning attributes across a range of disciplines.

Enterprise education at Newcastle University, UK, is embedded in the fabric of the curriculum via the Newcastle University Graduate Skills Framework. An example of this is the "Business for the Bioscientist" module. The authors discuss this module with regard to good practice, enterprise development and the wider arena of graduate careers and employer expectations. The paper illustrates how a combination of academics, curriculum developers, enterprise educators and guest speakers can result in an innovative and interactive enterprise module. Feedback from employers has reinforced the importance of embedding enterprise skills in the curriculum: the authors examine the methodology used at Newcastle to achieve this, the approach adopted and responses from learners. They assess how such an initiative can establish enterprise as a norm in the skills sets of graduates. The paper proposes and highlights various factors that universities need to address if they are to realize fully the concept of entrepreneurial learning. (Contains 2 tables and 4 figures.)

This paper offers a critique of existing models of continuing professional development (CPD) courses for science teachers in the light of recent thinking about the nature of the subject (in particular, the arguments associated with "post-normal science") and the challenges presented by the teaching of controversial socio-scientific issues (especially topics like biotechnology and genetic modification). An analysis of the outcomes and limitations of an "up-date/top-down" kind of CPD is used to argue that future forms of effective CPD must involve teachers in reflecting on the scientific, the social and the pedagogical dimensions to "new science," and the relationships between them in the interests of improved classroom learning. (Contains 1 figure, 1 table, and 1 note.)

The potential of the World Wide Web for rapid global communication is driving the creation of specifically tailored courses for employees, yet few practitioners have the necessary experience in on-line teaching methods, or in preparing documents for the web. Experience gained in developing six online training modules for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry sectors is informing the development by a partnership of academics and practitioners of seven online modules that will meet requirements for continuing professional development in the health sector. This paper highlights lessons for success.

The spectre of a food security crisis has raised important questions about future directions for agriculture and given fresh impetus to a long-standing debate about the potential contribution of agricultural biotechnology to food security. This paper considers the discursive foundations for promotion of agricultural biotechnology, arguing that notions of progress and "science-based" risk assessment act as "anti-political" strategies to remove consideration of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from the cut and thrust of politics, while the concept of "food security" reconstitutes agricultural biotechnology as a moral imperative. We argue that a debate ostensibly focussed on developing countries in fact largely arises from discordant views about the future of farming and rural areas in the developed countries where these arguments are taking place. These debates are examined through a comparative study of the UK and Australia. Whereas acceptance of GM crops and foods at government and industry level has not led to commercial adoption in the UK due to consumer resistance and the influence of EU regulations, Australian governments at federal and state level have increasingly embraced GM crops, potentially locking Australia into a food and farming trajectory based on agricultural biotechnology. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

An editorial is presented on disseminating work funded under the UK research councils' Diet Research and Industry Club (DRINC). Topics include ensuring the transfer of knowledge between the science base and industry through the support of effective networking between the academic groups and companies involved in DRINC; and working in food businesses having the opportunity to forge research collaborations with leading UK academics in the field of food, nutrition and health.

Societal Impact Statement: The contentious debate over genetically modified (GM) crops in Britain has entered a new era following Brexit and the development of gene editing. At the same time, the events of the 1980s and 1990s are now entering historical archives, including the GM Archive at the Science Museum in London. This article explores how fears of unnaturalness and arguments from historical continuity informed the British GM controversy. It also analyses the limitations of these modern archives. The concerns surrounding the naturalness and continuity of biotechnology have recently been resurrected following suggestions that gene editing will be employed in plant breeding. Summary: This research examines the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops to Britain, including the backlash from environmentalist groups and the public that led to a de facto government moratorium on their commercialisation in 1998.Harnessing archival materials from the Science Museum's GM Archive, this paper shows that GM was viewed as an alien or unnatural technology in Britain, while campaigns from Monsanto and scientific supporters of GM attempted to show how recombinant DNA technology was simply the latest step in a long history of plant breeding.By moving outside the archive, it becomes clear that the creation of this narrative from continuity was a standard industry strategy. Appeals to the history of plant breeding was a strategy adopted by Monsanto well before the British GM controversy, while twentieth‐century food scares had already undermined public trust in government and industry.Public concern over the naturalness of biotechnology remains. Meanwhile, contemporary advocates of gene editing have begun to make similar arguments to those deployed in the 1990s, highlighting the similarity of gene editing to natural variation and selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a longitudinal case study in UK biotechnology covering some 30 years during which genomic technologies were introduced into pig breeding. This case study demonstrates how co-innovation involving existing small and medium sized enterprises, together with contributions from academics, has enabled companies to obtain the resources needed for value creation. Important contributions at critical junctures from public funding, pivotal contributions of individuals, and entry of new enterprises supplying essential resources, have enabled the fruitful realisation of new value creation. This paper contributes to the literature by taking a historical perspective, demonstrating how enabling long-term networking relationships including relevant academics, research institutions, funders and knowledge brokers has the potential to generate an innovation ecosystem that can respond effectively to a range of external challenges and take advantage of new techno-scientific opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first discussions relating to the regulation of recombinant DNA technology in the UK occurred in 1970, and were independent of similar discussions happening in the US from 1973. UK regulatory authorities were differently motivated by the range of concerns around risk posed by the new technology. UK authorities implemented a framework that was informed by a specific culture that had roots in scientific and laboratory work practices. The paper reflects on the early close relationships between UK biotechnology industry and university laboratory spaces, and the central concern around laboratory safety and workers rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology‐dependent children are a sub‐population of seriously ill children with life‐limiting conditions who are being cared for at home by their families. Although home‐based care has been the model of care for these children since the late 1980s, there is a paucity of literature about parents' experiences of having home adaptations made to enable their home to be a place of care for their child. Using the findings from auto‐driven photo‐elicitation interviews conducted between August 2017 and June 2018 with 12 parents (10 mothers and 2 fathers) who have a technology‐dependent child (aged 5–25 years) living in England, Scotland and Wales and David Seamon's five concepts of at‐homeness (appropriation, at‐easeness, regeneration, rootedness and warmth) as a conceptual framework, this paper addresses how parents' experienced home adaptations. Thematic analysis generated a meta‐theme of 'Home needs to be a home for all family members' and the three key themes: (1) 'You just get told' and 'you're not involved'; (2) It's just the 'cheapest', 'quickest', 'short‐term' approach; (3) Having 'control' and 'thinking things through.' The need to involve parents in decision‐making about adaptations that are made to their home (family‐informed design) is clear, not only from a cost‐saving perspective for the state, but for creating an aesthetic and functional home that optimises health, well‐being and feelings of at‐homeness for the entire family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of university spin-offs and the development of its biotechnology industry are two of the UK's and many other countries' top research-to-commercialisation priorities. Usually more is known about the numbers of spin-offs than their performance. This paper analyses the performance of 56 biomedical spin-offs from Oxfordshire's universities and public sector research laboratories with respect to human resources, the degree of innovative capability and internationalisation. In so doing, it explores the contribution of this group of firms to the evolution of science-based industry in this particular location which is one of the UK's leading centres of research and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents an agenda for research into the geographies of UK livestock agriculture as these are being reconfigured through the increasing intervention of genetic techniques and technologies. After discussing three particular techniques, four areas of research are identified. The first three relate to different spaces and scales at which the effects of genetic techniques can be examined: the animal body and animal-human relationships; the farm and other rural spaces; and the national and international networks of genetic knowledge-practices relating to livestock. The fourth area outlines an agenda for engaging with Foucault's notion of biopower as a possible means of gaining a theoretical purchase on three key issues which span these three scales: knowledge, power and life. In its reflections on the wider implications of the proposed research the paper aims to speak to a number of audiences within and beyond the discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: When new technologies are developed, it is common for their crime and security implications to be overlooked or given inadequate attention, which can lead to a 'crime harvest'. Potential methods for the criminal exploitation of biotechnology need to be understood to assess their impact, evaluate current policies and interventions and inform the allocation of limited resources efficiently. Recent studies have illustrated some of the security implications of biotechnology, with outcomes of misuse ranging from compromised computers using malware stored in synthesised DNA, infringement of intellectual property on biological matter, synthesis of new threatening viruses, 'genetic genocide,' and the exploitation of food markets with genetically modified crops. However, there exists no synthesis of this information, and no formal quality assessment of the current evidence. This review therefore aims to establish what current and/or predicted crimes have been reported as a result of biotechnology. Methods: A systematic review will be conducted to identify relevant literature. ProQuest, Web of Science, MEDLINE and USENIX will be searched utilizing a predefined search string, and Backward and Forward searches. Grey literature will be identified by searching the official UK Government website (www.gov.uk) and the Global database of Dissertations and Theses. The review will be conducted by screening title/abstracts followed by full texts, utilising pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Papers will be managed using Eppi-center Reviewer 4 software, and data will be organised using a data extraction table using a descriptive coding tool. A predefined rating system (speculative, experimental or currently occurring) will be used to sort studies, and a thematic synthesis of the results will be presented. Discussion: Despite the concerns raised about the misuse of biotechnology, no previous work has been conducted from a Crime Science perspective to collate and assess the literature. This systematic review aims to identify the types of offending activity facilitated by biotechnology, including synthetic biology and genetic engineering. The objective of the review is to examine whether this offending activity can be prevented by assessing the conditions necessary for the crime events to occur. It is anticipated that evidence generated from this review will guide future research in this area and aid relevant stakeholders to prioritise and allocate limited resources to biotechnology crime prevention. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42019131685 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The years following the end of World War II saw a rapid increase in the rate of the introduction of new products by the pharmaceutical industry in Europe and North America. Patenting played an increasingly significant role in the industry and the companies, which were investing heavily in research, needed to develop strategies of appropriation to ensure that they recouped the rewards of innovation. This paper explores the use of patents by UK companies during the therapeutic revolution and beyond. It suggests that within a framework of competition, the use of patents and the practice of licensing, combined with the growing complexity of products led to the creation of networks of cross-licensing, often linked to a variety of collaborative arrangements. In this process, the companies created corporate capabilities which contributed to their growth and international development within the period covered by the paper. By the 1960s, however, the nature of licensing had changed but some collaborative arrangements and the capabilities they created continued to play a significant role in the further international development of the industry. From the late 1970s, as new drugs became more elusive and expensive, as well taking much longer to get into the market, patents for the much sought after 'blockbuster' drugs were eagerly pursued. Patents, licensing and various forms of collaboration assumed a new significance in the approaches made by the pharmaceutical corporations to the innovative discoveries of the biotechnology industry in the last two decades of the century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper's focus is on both the geography of entrepreneurship and on industry-collaborative links internationally, nationally and at the local level in the UK biotech industry, the world's second largest biotech industry. The paper reports on a pilot survey of the UK biotech industry. The survey has two goals: to understand the business goals of the firms and to examine the relative importance of local conditions to the business of biotech. Further evidence on these two themes comes from two studies of Oxfordshire, one of the UK's centres of biomedical science and biotechnology. The first is a survey of the county's biotech firms. The second, of academic spin-offs, demonstrates how the business of biotech in the UK is intimately tied to the national innovation system, which in turn is dependent upon highly localised elite science which in turn signals to world elites that the region is a hot-spot for innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Despite the increasing studies concerning external knowledge for innovative firms or for innovations, little research demonstrates as what are those capabilities that enable firms to explore and assess high-valuable knowledge. The aim of this study is to examine those capabilities that aid innovative firms to search and identify the potential knowledge for open innovation. This study is an empirical and theoretical examination of knowledge search and identification capabilities of the UK-based biotechnology firms. The literature has been drawn from the research streams into knowledge management, open innovation and dynamic capabilities. Design/methodology/approach: Forty-five semi-structured interviews with senior-level innovation and R&D managers were completed, and thematic analysis using NVivo 12 was performed. Findings: Evidence from 45 interviews with senior-level innovation and R&D managers in the UK-based biotechnology firms and thematic analysis was used to develop a process framework capturing the key capabilities. By identifying the role and contribution of each of the capabilities in knowledge identification in the practices of open innovation, this study contributes to open innovation and knowledge management literature. Practical implications: Managerial implications suggest knowledge-oriented leads greatly influence the development of identification capabilities. Hence, firms with knowledge-oriented leads are better crafted approaches to achieve competitive advantages in the practices of open innovation. Originality/value: This study offers a new theoretical perspective and empirical evidence to view knowledge identification capabilities as the dynamic capabilities. This study offers a process framework of identification capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Debate is intensifying about how to assess the full range of impacts from medical research. Complexity increases when assessing the diverse funding streams of funders such as Asthma UK, a charitable patient organisation supporting medical research to benefit people with asthma. This paper aims to describe the various impacts identified from a range of Asthma UK research, and explore how Asthma UK utilised the characteristics of successful funding approaches to inform future research strategies. Methods: We adapted the Payback Framework, using it both in a survey and to help structure interviews, documentary analysis, and case studies. We sent surveys to 153 lead researchers of projects, plus 10 past research fellows, and also conducted 14 detailed case studies. These covered nine projects and two fellowships, in addition to the innovative case studies on the professorial chairs (funded since 1988) and the MRC-Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma (the 'Centre') which together facilitated a comprehensive analysis of the whole funding portfolio. We organised each case study to capture whatever academic and wider societal impacts (or payback) might have arisen given the diverse timescales, size of funding involved, and extent to which Asthma UK funding contributed to the impacts. Results: Projects recorded an average of four peer-reviewed journal articles. Together the chairs reported over 500 papers. All streams of funding attracted follow-on funding. Each of the various categories of societal impacts arose from only a minority of individual projects and fellowships. Some of the research portfolio is influencing asthmarelated clinical guidelines, and some contributing to product development. The latter includes potentially major breakthroughs in asthma therapies (in immunotherapy, and new inhaled drugs) trialled by university spin-out companies. Such research-informed guidelines and medicines can, in turn, contribute to health improvements. The role of the chairs and the pioneering collaborative Centre is shown as being particularly important. Conclusions: We systematically demonstrate that all types of Asthma UK's research funding assessed are making impacts at different levels, but the main societal impacts from projects and fellowships come from a minority of those funded. Asthma UK used the study's findings, especially in relation to the Centre, to inform research funding strategies to promote the achievement of impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the philosophical substructure to the theoretical conflicts that permeate contemporary mental health care in the UK. Theoretical conflicts are treated here as those that arise among practitioners holding divergent theoretical orientations towards the phenomena being treated. Such conflicts, although steeped in history, have become revitalized by recent attempts at integrating mental health services that have forced diversely trained practitioners to work collaboratively together, often under one roof. Part I of this paper examines how the history of these conflicts can be understood as a tension between, on the one hand, the medical model and its use by the dominant profession of psychiatry, and on the other, those alternative models and practitioners in some way differentiated from the medical model camp. Examples will be given from recent policy and research to highlight the prevalence of this tension in contemporary practice. Part II of this paper explores the deeper commonalities that lay beneath the theoretical conflict outlined in Part I. These commonalities will be shown to be apart of a captivating framework that has continued to grip the conflict since its inception. By exposing this underlying framework-and the motivations inherent therein-the topic of integration appears in wholly different light, allowing a renewed philosophical basis for integration to emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Praxis (16618157) is the property of Aerzteverlag medinfo AG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Innovation is an increasingly globalised phenomenon but the highest rates of visible innovation are found in and around cities. This paper explores the 'urban factors' that support innovative activity, focusing on English cities. Agglomeration economies can help explain both cities' resilience and the characteristics of urban markets, assets, networks and institutions that help innovation to take place. A high-level explanatory framework is set out, using the concepts of 'urban hubs' and 'local links' to draw together these ideas. The framework is then explored using five case studies from the UK and abroad. The findings suggest a number of different 'innovation trajectories' for different city types. Innovation policymakers should pay more attention to improving urban infrastructure, skills and critical mass, and should devolve strategy-making towards pan-regional and sub-regional actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous issue of the International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology I described how competing visions of sustainable agriculture are currently battling for hegemonic status (Johnson 2006). One vision seeks to break the hegemony of productionism and the other seeks to continue down its path with a greater emphasis on biotechnology. In this paper, I wish to explore these visions further as they apply to actual existing strategies for sustainable farming and food in the UK. This paper uses discourse analysis to compare the UK government's vision for sustainable farming and food sectors with that of two NGOs: Friends of the Earth and Corporate Watch. The language and discourse in the government's and NGOs' strategy documents is examined for evidence indicating their ideological conception of agricultural sustainability. The paper concludes that, whilst the NGOs are pursuing a strong vision of sustainability, seeking to break productionism's hegemony, the UK government is pursuing an ideologically weak-to-moderate conceptualisation of sustainability, pursuing the high-technology modified version of agricultural productionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1999, the UK Government responded to escalating tensions surrounding biotechnology governance by creating two strategic, non-statutory advisory bodies: the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission (AEBC) and the Human Genetics Commission (HGC). They were designed to represent diverse stakeholder perspectives, operate transparently and engage with a variety of interested individuals and groups. This was a shift in meta-governance involving the creation of boundary organisations, discipline-bridging instruments of governance that serve to stabilise, clarify and legitimise policy advice. This paper has two main objectives: to conduct a comparative exploration of the relative success of HGC and AEBC as boundary organisations; and to test the utility of an analysis of public meeting transcripts, supplemented by interview data, in identifying factors contributing to consensus and contention in these twin Commissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a UK social science and anthropological study into the debates surrounding xenotransplantation (XT), involving interviews and focus group discussions across a number of different stakeholders (scientists, regulators and publics – including patient groups and other lay participants). In these discussions, one image in particular – that of ‘earmouse’– surfaced repeatedly in consideration of XT and allied areas of bioscience. Whilst the image itself has little technically in common with XT or transgenic biotechnologies, it has nevertheless become ineradicably connected with them. This paper seeks to make sense of earmouse as an iconic reference through which people articulate their differing and highly contested views on bioscience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biotechnology stands out as a clear-cut example of an industry where legislation on new technologies has been shown to be linked with public attitudes. Indeed, consumer consultation has played a leading role in the acceptance of genetically modified (GM) food as well as in government policy and legislation. This paper examines the issue of consumer consultation by analysing how public opinion has conditioned the acceptance of GM food in the European Union in general and specifically in Spain and the UK. We draw upon the evidence of two Eurobarometer surveys (46.1 and 52.1) to argue that consumer decision making on new technologies is an information-dependent factor explaining consumer rejection to non-transparent introduction of GM food. Individuals feel ill-prepared to make decisions and rely on trusted information advisors such as consumer organizations. Findings suggest significant information dependency as well as widespread heterogeneity in attitudes towards the applications of biotechnology. Finally, the role played by information channels indicates that consumer participation should precede the adoption of communication policies, as they might need to adapt to the specific cultural characteristics of each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to political pressures arising from controversial science policy decisions, the United Kingdom (UK) government conducted a review of its biotechnology governance framework in 1999, identifying best practices of open government and creating strategic bodies to adopt them. Drawing from empirical data on the context and nature of the open government framework, this paper argues that the framework may be interpreted as elasticizing objectivity. Value-neutral scientific objectivity is essentially 'stretched' into a pluralist objectivity that purports to represent a spectrum of interests without privileging any, allowing the policy culture to retain its legitimating objectivity and authority. Governance implications of this analysis are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses some selected topics seen as being most important in currently affecting the development of biotechnology in the UK. The importance of demand side factors such as the role of professional experts, regulatory bodies, retailers, public opinion and political activity in stimulating or discouraging innovation in biotechnology is discussed. Supply side factors are then analysed, particularly the major changes in the organizations which generate biotechnology innovations - especially collaborative alliances and network firms, and the restructuring of the chemical, pharmaceutical and agro-food industries which use biotechnology, via merger, acquisition, demerger and divestment. Two important aspects of the infrastructure for innovation, which are rapidly changing and generating debate and concern, are then considered. These are intellectual property regimes on the one hand, and corporate governance and the sources of finance for investment on the other. The issue of globalization of innovative activity in biotechnology and in the industries which use it is addressed next, and it is concluded that collaborative alliances are the main mechanism by which overseas sourcing of technology is taking place. Finally, future trends and some policy implications are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a special issue on the social and economic dimensions of biotechnology in Great Britain. Definition; Biotechnology-based companies; Social scientic issues.

This paper examines the economic prospects for the biotechnology industry, focusing on the UK position. I discuss some economic issues relating to the structure of the biotechnology industry and examine whether these factors can account for the relative success of the biotechnology sector in the UK compared to other European countries. I emphasize the importance of the science base, pharmaceutical companies and capital markets in giving the UK an advantage. Looking ahead I argue that prospects are good for the global growth of the industry due to supply and demand side factors. The UK is in a leading position in Europe but faces significant dangers, especially from the public towards biotechnology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regenerative medicine (RM) is championed as a potential source of curative treatments for a variety of illnesses, and as a generator of economic wealth and prosperity. Alongside this optimism, however, is a sense of concern that the translation of basic science into useful RM therapies will be laboriously slow due to a range of challenges relating to live tissue handling and manufacturing, regulation, reimbursement and commissioning, and clinical adoption. This paper explores the attempts of stakeholders to overcome these innovation challenges and thus facilitate the emergence of useful RM therapies. The paper uses the notion of innovation niches as an analytical frame. Innovation niches are collectively constructed socio-technical spaces in which a novel technology can be tested and further developed, with the intention of enabling wider adoption. Drawing on primary and secondary data, we explore the motivation for, and the attempted construction of, niches in three domains which are central to the adoption of innovative technologies: the regulatory, the health economic, and the clinical. We illustrate that these niches are collectively constructed via both formal and informal initiatives, and we argue that they reflect wider socio-political trends in the social management of biomedical novelty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Colombiana de Biotecnología is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article focuses on the exploration, exploitation assessment of risks related to marine genetic resources (MGRs) in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) in Great Britain. It mentions that MGR exploitation is a common activity for the biotechnology industry. It states that marine genetic materials are used for the genetic information and the resources consider their role in the biological diversity,

Questions of timing, phasing and sequence have been central to recent critiques of science policy-making, which have highlighted sustained disjunctures between the relevance and importance given to different stakeholders at different moments in the policy-making process. In this paper we expand upon this recent 'upstream/downstream' literature through a case study analysis of xenotransplantation (XTP), one of the defining controversies of 1990s UK biotechnology regulation. Drawing on insights from the sociology of expectations we trace the emergence of a UK policy narrative concerning the future of XTP and explore how the policy role became narrowly defined as a process of 'reflex regulation', based upon technologically determinist assumptions and producing extremely short-term decision-making. We draw attention to the concrete costs of this delineation of the policy role and reveal that it is neither inevitable or necessary, by considering contrasts between the policy temporalities of the UK, Canada and the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the patterns of venture capital (VC) investment in dedicated biotech firms (DBFs) in the therapeutic and diagnostic sectors (bio-healthcare). We use a database of 655 UK bio-healthcare deals to map the geographical flows of VC investment and measure the co-location of investors and DBFs. Then, using 20 face-to-face interviews with venture capitalists (VCs) and DBF firms in Cambridge and Scotland, we study the strategic motives underlying the co-location of investors and investee companies and reflect on the catalytic role VCs play in context of the Scottish and Cambridge bio-clusters. From the viewpoint of VC-related policies, we find that our study is more in line with arguments stressing the attractive power of 'investor-ready' opportunities (Mason and Harrison 2003) than supply-side approaches that take for granted VC presence at the core of high-tech clusters. In line with Avnimelech, Rosiello, and Teubal (2008), we propose that VC policy should be consistent with the wider strategic objectives of innovation and technology policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stem cells are at the forefront of hopes for developing treatments for a range of serious diseases. The sources of those stem cells can be controversial, particularly for embryonic stem cell lines. Increasingly parents are opting to collect umbilical cord blood shortly after delivery of the baby, some to satisfy a current treatment need for stem cells and others to ‘future-proof’ their families and themselves against possible disease and preserving for themselves a potentially potent resource for future regenerative treatments. The author reviews recent and forthcoming changes in regulation of this area, potential legal problems and the implications of compliance for biotech companies within the field or who have current treatments which may benefit from collaboration with those who are in the field. The paper looks at, in particular, the legal position in the UK, and issues relating to, for example, ownership of cord blood deposits and anonymity of deposits.Journal of Commercial Biotechnology (2009) 15, 236–244. doi:10.1057/jcb.2008.46; published online 11 November 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developments in biotechnology present difficult social and ethical challenges that need to be resolved by regulators among others. One crucial problem for regulators of new technologies is to ensure that regulation is both clear and sufficiently flexible to respond to new developments. This is particularly difficult to achieve in contentious fields such as medical biotechnology. In the European Union there is a divergence in the solutions to this problem which has lead to different regulatory frameworks for medical biotechnology. This paper compares and contrasts the British and Dutch regulatory frameworks for the selection of embryos by preimplantation genetic diagnosis as an example of the regulation of medical biotechnology. Some of the outcomes of the regulatory choices and possible reasons behind the divergent frameworks are discussed, such as the ethical outlooks and political systems in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternatives to donor blood have been developed in part to meet increasing demand. However, new biotechnologies are often associated with increased perceptions of risk and low acceptance. This paper reviews developments of alternatives and presents data, from a field-based experiment in the UK and Holland, on the risks and acceptance of donor blood and alternatives (chemical, genetically modified and bovine). UK groups perceived all substitutes as riskier than the Dutch. There is a negative association between perceived risk and acceptability. Solutions to increasing acceptance are discussed in terms of implicit attitudes, product naming and emotional responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws upon a survey of the life science and biotechnology regions of Oxford, Central Scotland and South West England to examine the innovation and embeddedness traits of the regions. The insights into the compositional weaknesses and strengths of the regions suggest opportunities and threats for the future development of the UK's life sciences and biotechnology. The discussion moves forward debates on biotechnology, regional innovation, regional economic development and policy by posing research questions relating to the gap of knowledge of two under-researched regions, the need for a differentiated view of regions and a public policy approach tailored towards them, as well as the prospects of 'engineering' high-tech regions. Some of the highlighted policy challenges are common to the three regions, while others are region-specific and reflect the variations of regional make-up and stage of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper updates to 2006 material first gathered in the late 1990s. Though Germany has about the same number of firms as the UK its biotechnology economy is far weaker, with many small firms employing few people, relatively low venture capital investment and little interest being shown by pharmaceuticals companies in licensing intellectual property. The reverse is the case in the UK even though the investor euphoria at the time of the first comparative study has not returned. A new policy of 'entrepreneurship outsourcing' has become visible in the UK as venture capital perceives a better business climate for biotechnology entrepreneurship in the USA. Recent developments of this kind may add to debilitating European problems, loosening more proximate links within national and regional innovation systems widely perceived as highly important elements in biotechnology cluster performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers some of the 'new tools of governance' and how they might apply to the life science industries. Through a study of a number of UK government-industry 'task forces' and recent world events in drug regulation it identifies two opposing trends in play and suggests that there are actually limits to the all pervasive notion of governance. Instead, the multi-faceted policy and regulatory situation that applies to the life sciences is leading to the existence of a government-governance continuum where different aspects of genomics and life science technologies sit at different points; contrasting the role of the state in controlling and framing the context for the implementation of innovations in life sciences through the regulatory system with the more participative forms of policy-making that are being fostered both to promote national competitiveness and encourage public acceptance of these new technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transferring knowledge on new biotechnology applications in the European Union is restricted by limited public support. Explanations for this limited support lead us to examine the influence of knowledge and beliefs in shifting attitudes towards the uncertain consequences of unknown technologies. In addition, this paper looks at the role of perceptions of uncertainty as well as information channels. We denote as “knowledgeable” those attitudes that are held by informed individuals and as “rational irrational” those attitudes purely reflecting political and moral beliefs. The empirical analysis employs data from a UK sample of the 1999 Eurobarometer Survey 52.1. Results suggest that improving knowledge systematically raises individual support for clinical biotech applications such as animal cloning, while attitudes towards market-oriented biotech such as GM food remain systematically unaltered. When controlling for knowledge, significant factors within information channels were gender, perceptions of risk and, in certain applications, religiosity. Findings also support the hypothesis that knowledge driven attitudes arise from those applications where knowledge is shifted by perceived experience and thus perceived information costs are small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenges of bio-entrepreneurship are related to the specific characteristics of the biotechnology sector. However, the circumstantial conditions of businesses and the social environment in various countries might also shape the profile of a successful bio-entrepreneur. This paper attempts to identify and compare the main traits of a successful entrepreneur in three different European countries that have a well-developed biotechnology sector: UK, France and Germany. This paper also aims to propose a model of the required competencies for a successful bio-entrepreneur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years international bioethics bodies have made prominent declarations about the uses of donated tissue and related information in genetic research 1 . Following the ‘legislative’ mode of bioethics 2 , these organisations have put forward a number of general principles with a view to promoting the fair and equitable use of donated tissue in such research. However, government policies in this field are shaped differently in different national regimes. In this paper, I use recent debates in the UK about a national genetic ‘biobank’ to illustrate how the shape and texture of policy discussions surrounding the use of donated blood for genetic research have been built upon a prior national consensus that regarded blood as a public good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differences in growth patterns between regional clusters are often attributed to the extent to which they benefit from agglomeration, defined as the advantages that derive from being proximately located with other companies and institutions in the same industry. Foremost among these supply-side externalities are the knowledge ‘spillover’ effects that can result from firms interacting extensively in both horizontal (complementary equivalent firms) and vertical (value chain) directions. The paper presents evidence from two surveys, one national and one regionally based, of networking patterns in UK biotechnology, focusing on how firms engage with other small firms, with large pharmaceuticals, and with research centres, and how far these interactions are regional, national or international in character. It suggests that where companies do collaborate, there is a tendency for the intensity of activity to increase as the location of the partner moves from the local to the international space. We evaluate the obvious interpretation that local linkages may be satisfactory for idea generation and early product development, but that national and international connections are more important for manufacturing, marketing and distribution activities. However, we conclude that a broader set of largely industry factors account for the networking patterns – namely, the science-technology base, research funding, firms' business models, and competitor strategies in evolving markets – and that these matter more to clustered UK biotechnology firms than the cluster itself. These findings suggest a rethinking of cluster policy and the theoretical basis for clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking Biobank UK as its centrepiece, this paper analyses the politics of legitimation accompanying the emergence of population-based genetic databases and the contribution of bioethics to the power play therein. First, it explores the nature of the legitimation problem experienced by biotechnology and considers the extent to which bioethics can be regarded as an epistemic community capable of responding to that problem through a regulatory contribution. Second, drawing on a range of documentary and internet sources, it examines the ethical content of the policy discourse of biobank regulation in four countries in terms of the balance of power expressed therein between the rights of citizens, science, industry and the state in relation to the control of genetic information. Third, the analysis deals with the contribution of the international discourse and networks of bioethics to the policy debate of biobank regulation and the disciplinary identity of this divided epistemic community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the regulation of biotechnology in Britain, Germany and the United States and shows that systematic differences have developed around four issues: abortion, assisted reproduction, stem cells, and genetically modified crops and foods. Policy choices with respect to these issues reflect the capacity of each nation's regulatory institutions to deal with the scientific, social and ethical uncertainties around biotechnology. National regulatory frameworks constitute an apparatus of collective sense-making through which governments and publics interpret biotechnology's risks and promises. Specifically, regulatory choices position the novel ontologies created by biotechnology either on the side of the familiar and manageable or on the side of the unknown and insupportably risky. The comparison shows that public responses to biotechnology are embedded within robust and coherent political cultures and are not ad hoc expressions of concern that vary unpredictably from issue to issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Department of Health has recently initiated a consultation exercise seeking input on the subject of removing gamete donor anonymity. This paper examines the case for disclosure alongside that of providing additional non-identifying information. The author questions the availability of scientifically based research to demonstrate that children's best interests can only be served by the provision of identifying information. The author also questions whether all the possible implications of legislative change have been identified and debated. The paper states that the harmful effects of disclosure on the lives of other interested parties, an inevitable downward trend on donor numbers, and a negative emotional impact in the event of a mismatch in expectations between donors and donor offspring guard against the identification of gamete donors. It is proposed that egg share schemes without anonymity, possibly the only reliable source of donor eggs, would become impractical in the UK. It concludes that given the far-reaching and irreversible impact of disclosure, the removal of anonymity should be considered only when research provides unequivocal proof that improved levels of non-identifying information are insufficient for the well-being of donor offspring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In assessing the likely demand for biotechnology products it is not sufficient just to look at what is happening in firms and their immediate market environment. There is no one 'market' for biotechnology products: there are differences between sectors and between countries. You have instead to look at the institutional contexts of the biotechnology product's development. This paper reviews work which has been carried out by social scientists, especially those using 'social shaping' approaches, on the development of new products based on advances in biotechnology and on the creation of markets to go with these products. It examines work on public attitudes to the exploitation of the technology, focusing especially on the issue of social inclusion and exclusion and how biotechnology might make exclusion more likely. It concludes by considering what current differences in public attitudes to the development of some biotechnology-based products might mean for the development of markets for those products in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the rationale and results of a scenario exercise concerning possible future developments in UK biotechnology. The final output of this exercise is a 'consensus' vision of what success might look like for the UK in biotechnology in 2005. The 'success scenario' was developed during a two-day workshop through structured discussions in a group of people active in biotechnology in industry, research agencies, consultancies or academe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]