Knowledge Management in Advanced Technology Industries: An Examination of International Agricultural Biotechnology Clusters

Abstract

Innovation—the social process of developing, adapting, and adopting new technologies and products into the economy and society—is being driven by increasingly intensive use of knowledge. Although knowledge is often considered inherently nonrival and nonexcludable, increasing complexity has combined with new private property rights mechanisms to erect barriers to use. One approach to overcoming the challenge of accessing and using knowledge has been for firms and other actors to cluster geographically in a few locations around the world, in order to capture scale and scope economies. This paper offers a theoretical explanation for this agglomeration, examines the extent of clustering in the agricultural biotechnology industry, and investigates one specific cluster—in Saskatoon, Canada—that has sustained success in generating successive innovation. Preliminary results indicate that clusters appear to be prevalent in areas where knowledge is diffuse, complicated, and actively protected. Finally, our results also suggest that regional knowledge management is enhanced through an optimal number of actors operating within the parameters of seven defined cluster-based functions: three primary (science, technology and collective) and four mixed or hybrid activities.

Special issue: globalisation of biotechnology

“…Significant agglomerations of such companies occur in out of the way places like Guelph and Saskatoon in Canada, Wageningen, Netherlands and Basel, Switzerland. More substantial but somehow still unusual places from a high tech viewpoint such as St. Louis, Missouri also appear on the radar in the form of 'BioBelt' the world's biggest agro-food agglomeration, as Ryan and Phillips (2004) have shown.…”

Knowledge, Space and Biotechnology

“…2003; Kaiser 2003; Lawton Smith 2002; Lawton Smith et al. 2000; Leibovitz 2004; Ryan and Phillips 2004; Walcott 2001; Zeller 2004).…”

“…There is actually surprisingly little research in economics, economic geography and regional studies that specifically adopts Porter's framework (e.g. Asheim and Coenen 2006; Chiaroni and Chiesa 2006; Cooke 2001a, 2003b; Leibovitz 2004; Ryan and Phillips 2004; Wolter 2003), despite the interest in policy circles (see DTI 1999a,b). Even where scholars studying biotechnology have adopted Porter's approach they are often critical of it (e.g.…”

“…Instead the word ‘cluster’ has become a generic term to represent geographical concentrations of biotechnology that exhibit certain characteristics (e.g. Audretsch 2003; Prevezer 2001, 2003; Ryan and Phillips 2004). These include:…”

“…2003; Coenen et al. 2004; Cooke 2004a; Leibovitz 2004; Ryan and Phillips 2004; Zeller 2004). Finally, there are a number of scholars who utilise political economy perspectives like the ‘varieties of capitalism’ concept (Hall and Soskice 2001) that cover the differences between innovation processes at a national scale (e.g.…”