This paper discusses different patterns of innovation and their institutional roots in Taiwan and South Korea. By using USPTO patent data as indicators of innovation, this paper finds that while individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) still account for a significant proportion of the patents in Taiwan, the large conglomerates are the major contributors of patents in South Korea. Moreover, although electronics is the sector that has gained most of the patents in both countries, Taiwan's patents are more dispersed while those of its South Korean counterparts are more concentrated. These differences come mainly from the institutional roots in their economic catching-up era.

Recent developments in the biopharmaceutical industry in Taiwan, South Korea and China bear witness to the transformation of these states in nurturing an innovation‐based industry. This article argues that the segmentation of the value chain of the biopharmaceutical industry has provided industrializing countries with a window of opportunity. These East Asian states have modified their former catching‐up approaches by establishing a more effective institutional platform that can attract knowledge‐creation players to the industry. Through case studies, the authors show that the Taiwan state's promotion of the biopharmaceutical industry has been based on an incremental approach; existing state policies have been modified to cope with the demands of the industry, which has resulted in the continuation of its SME‐based industrial structure. The methods of the Korean state have been more radical, in that the policies that previously favoured the chaebols have gradually been reoriented toward the promotion of smaller, science‐based firms that now co‐exist alongside the chaebols. Finally, the Chinese state and local governments have sought to promote this innovation‐based industry by building biotech parks. This approach has resulted in a boom in new science firms, which have become increasingly isolated from the flourishing domestic SOE‐led market.

Purpose Although YAP1 and TAZ are believed to be equivalent downstream effectors of the Hippo pathway, differential expression of YAP1 or TAZ suggests distinct functions during cancer progression. The exact role of YAP1 and TAZ in esophageal cancer, the 6th leading cancer-related mortality in the world, remains elusive. Methods Following single or double manipulation of YAP1 or TAZ expression, we subjected these manipulated cells to proliferation, migration, invasion, and xenograft tumorigenesis assays. We used RT-qPCR and Western blotting to examine their expression in the manipulated cells with or without inhibition of transcription or translation. We also examined the impact of YAP1 or TAZ deregulation on clinical outcome of esophageal cancer patients from the TCGA database. Results We found that YAP1 functions as a tumor suppressor whereas TAZ exerts pro-tumor functions in esophageal cancer cells. We also found a significant increase in TAZ mRNA expression upon YAP1 depletion, but not vice versa, despite the downregulation of CTGF and CYR61, shared targets of YAP1 and TAZ, in xenografted tissue cells. In addition to transcriptional regulation, YAP1-mediated TAZ expression was found to occur via protein synthesis. Restored TAZ expression mitigated YAP1-mediated suppression of cellular behavior. By contrast, TAZ silencing reduced the promoting effect exerted by YAP1 depletion on cellular behaviors. The observed anti-tumor function of YAP1 was further supported by a better overall survival among esophageal cancer patients with a high YAP1 expression. Conclusion From our data we conclude that YAP1 functions as a suppressor and negatively regulates pro-tumor TAZ expression via transcriptional and translational control in esophageal cancer.

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