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Growth of biotech clusters over several decades through pioneering, variety and entrepreneurial science

Biotechnology (biotech) clusters have evolved over time. Being a top biotech region in the early years 1978–1990 still positively correlates with the cluster’s biotech strength decades later. An entrepreneurial orientation of scientific actors as well as a variety of networks with partners outside the cluster both contribute to sustained biotech activity.

Over a few decades, biotech has evolved from an area of fundamental scientific enquiry into various application areas — from pharmaceuticals and health care to agriculture, food and materials — with a substantial economic footprint. Moreover, given potential convergence with information technologies, nanotechnologies and other areas of applied science, biotech provides a strong foundation for future innovation and growth1,2,3,4.

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Fig. 1: The evolution of triadic patent families, 1978–2015.
Fig. 2: Average value of share of company-owned patents and share of anchor tenant.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Xiao Yan Song for her support and guidance when developing relevant patent indicators. We express our gratitude to ECOOM STORE for supporting and funding this line of research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ECOOM, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Bart Van Looy, Grabowska Marcelina & Koenraad Debackere

  2. Managerial Economics, Strategy and Innovation, Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Bart Van Looy & Koenraad Debackere

  3. Business Department, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Vesna Vlaisavljevic

  4. Department of Marketing, Innovation and Organization, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Catherine Lecocq

Authors

  1. Bart Van Looy
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  2. Grabowska Marcelina
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  3. Vesna Vlaisavljevic
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  4. Catherine Lecocq
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  5. Koenraad Debackere
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Contributions

Conceptualization: B.V.L., C.L.¸ V.V., K.D.B. Methodology: C.L., M.G., V.V., B.V.L. Formal analysis: M.G., C.L. and B.V.L. Writing—original draft: BVL, MG, VV. Writing — review and editing: C.L., K.D.B., V.V., M.G., B.V.L.

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Bart Van Looy.

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Nature Biotechnology thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Van Looy, B., Grabowska, M., Vlaisavljevic, V. et al. Growth of biotech clusters over several decades through pioneering, variety and entrepreneurial science.
Nat Biotechnol 42, 20–25 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-02062-6

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  • Published: 17 January 2024

  • Issue Date: January 2024

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-02062-6

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