생명공학 혁신시스템의 미.일 비교 연구 - 우리나라의 시사점 도출을 위하여 -

A Comparative Study on the USA and Japan National Innovation System in Biotechnology

Fundamental advances in the biotechnologies are exerting a profound influence on the health care, agricultural, industrial chemical, environmental, and other industrial fields. Korean government are now more and more realizing the importance of biotechnology as a main technology for the 21st century. But any technical progress is largely the result of a complex set of relationships among the firms, institutions and others involved in development. So understanding the complexity is very important to make promoting strategies and it is even critical in the field of biotechnology. The reason is that commercialization of research results in biotechnology is strongly related with the national science bases provided by academic and public institutes. And its applicable industrial sectors are very diverse. So it is very important to make a effective collaboration system among many R&D related agents. This article discusses and compares both USA and Japanese framework of national innovation systems in the field of biotechnology. The American Innovation system encourages basic research in the biological sciences, and fosters the creation of small venture firms that focus on the development of novel products. America's peculiar incentive structure, derived from its research and educational system, financial system, and regulatory environment has driven USA labs and firms to the forefront of many biotechnology fields. The Japanese institutional environment in contrast, supported the strategy of building production expertise. Firms were urged to use the new techniques as a way of leapfrogging into a second generation of bio-products, in that cost and production advantages count. But the strategy was not effective as expected and Japanese firms have remained competent but not prominent rivals. The differing situations in USA and Japan with regard to biotechnology have many suggestions for our bioindustry. In the conclusion of this article, we translate USA and Japan's experiences to some suggestions which guide for promoting Korea's biotechnology R&D and commercialization activities.