Contact: Marilynn Brewer, (614) 292-9640
Written by Jeff Grabmeier, (614) 292-8457
BIOTECH FIRMS DEVELOP WHERE STAR SCIENTISTS WORKED, STUDY SHOWS
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Most biotechnology firms created during the 1980s were developed near the scientists who made the initial discoveries underlying the technology, new research shows.
The study identified the top researchers in the biotechnology field in 1980 and the location of leading biotech firms in 1990. The findings showed that the firms were clustered around the universities and institutes where the scientists worked 10 years earlier.
These results show the value of science in stimulating the local economy, said Marilynn Brewer, co-author of the study and a professor of psychology at Ohio State University.
"The biotech industry is a testament to the value of basic scientific research," Brewer said. "The growth of the industry depended heavily on the scientists who worked in the field and the firms grew where the scientists were located."
While the results may not seem surprising, economic theory suggests that innovations -- like those in biotechnology -- can be freely used by anyone with access to the right financing and knowledge. However, Brewer said, this study shows that the scientists involved in biotechnology research were crucial in ensuring that the technology made the leap from laboratories to business.
Brewer conducted the study with Lynne Zucker, a professor of sociology, and Michael Darby, a professor of management, both at UCLA. Their research appears in a recent issue of The American Economic Review.
Advances in biotechnology have transformed the pharmaceutical industry by allowing creation of novel drugs and treatments. Biotechnology has also been used extensively in the food processing and agriculture industries, among others.
For this study, the researchers identified 327 "star" scientists in the biotechnology field based on their outstanding productivity through 1990. The primary criterion was the discovery of 40 or more genetic sequences -- the building blocks of biotechnology. These star scientists published almost 22 times as many articles as the average scientist in their field.
The researchers also identified 751 distinct U.S. firms that were involved in biotechnology as of 1990. These included 511 new dedicated biotechnology firms, 150 new biotech subunits of existing firms, and 90 firms that could not be definitively classified.
The researchers then compared where the scientists worked with where the firms were located.
"We saw this incredible clustering of biotech companies around the star scientists," Brewer said. Most of the hotspots are well-known as biotech centers -- places like the San Francisco and Boston areas.
The study took into account the fact that federal research dollars and the presence of prestigious universities can also attract biotech firms to an area. These factors did have an effect, Brewer said, but the presence of star scientists has an impact above and beyond them.
"It was really the whole system of federal research support, university resources and the right people that helped biotech take off in some areas," she said.
The study also examined whether the existence of venture capital firms in an area spurred the creation of local biotech firms by providing start-up capital. The results showed no relation between local venture capital firms and biotech growth in their areas, once other factors such as the presence of star scientists was taken into account.
"This suggests that the companies went to the scientists rather than the other way around," she said.
Brewer said the results show that the scientists who made the first biotech advances were instrumental in applying the knowledge to real-world applications.
"The growth of the biotechnology industry depended heavily on the specialized knowledge of the scientists," Brewer said. "The intellectual capital of these scientists accounted for the growth of this industry above and beyond the usual economic models of how industries are created."
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