State-sponsored Research and Development: A Case Study of China's Biotechnology

ZHANG F., COOKE P. and WU F. State-sponsored research and development: a case study of China's biotechnology, Regional Studies. This paper examines the model of China's biotechnology innovation. It applies the typology of entrepreneurial, partnership, and developmental state to the Chinese biotechnology sector. Biotechnology development in China originates from state-sponsored programmes. Although China's total product sales only account for less than half those of the major biotechnology firm Amgen in the United States, Chinese biotechnology research capacities experience fast growth. State funding plays a crucial role in the latecomer situation. Geographically, biotechnology industries are concentrated in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and other major cities. The state promotes biotechnology development through strategic support in its 'Medium and Long Term S&T [science and technology] Development Plan', overseas talent-attraction programmes, commercialization initiatives, and the development of high-technology and science parks. However, such a model has its problems: the lack of sustained funding and underdeveloped venture capital, a weak link between research and industry, and under-performed intellectual property output. Faced with the funding constraint, contract research organizations have recently proliferated. Despite the strong role of state, it is concluded that the Chinese model of biotechnology innovation is a hybrid one, rather than the classical one of the developmental state, which combines various elements of different models.