Locating Biotech Innovation : Places, Flows and Unruly Processes

Abstract: This thesis begins by making two observations. First, that the regional economic landscapes in which we all live our daily lives, and which provide the basis for employment and prosperity, are constantly changing. Second, that one of the most popular strategies currently pursued by regions and nations for coping with such change, relies heavily on innovation within a few high-tech industries, biotech being one prominent example. The thesis is an investigation into the potential – and limits – of biotech-based development policies for creating renewal and economic growth at the local, regional or national scales. How does it really work when a team of biotech researchers develops a new invention? How can a small Swedish town manage to attract large foreign direct investments and stay competitive in the global biotech landscape? How is the performance of biotech knowledge workers affected by the places they live in, go to, leave, and make up? What impact can a biotech firm have on the local economic landscape in which it is located? These are the kind of questions that are studied in the four papers that make up this thesis. The thesis develops a conceptual framework within which we can better understand the extent to which mono-territorial actors, like regional and national policymakers, can influence high-tech sectors like biotech; sectors that are polycentric in nature and only partly take place in, or pass through, regional and national territories.