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Benchmarking of Public Biotechnology Policy

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Benchmarking of Public Biotechnology Policy Benchmarking of public biotechnology policy Final report Contract no. FIF.20030837 European Commission Enterprise Directorate General Thomas Reiss (coordinator), Fraunhofer ISI, Karlsruhe, Germany Iciar Dominguez Lacasa, Fraunhofer ISI, Karlsruhe, Germany Vincent Mangematin, UMR GAEL, Grenoble, France Frédéric Corolleur, UMR GAEL, Grenoble, France Christien Enzing, TNO-STI, Delft, the Netherlands Annelieke van der Giessen, TNO-STI, Delft, the Netherlands Jacqueline Senker, SPRU, Brighton, United Kingdom Lionel Nesta, SPRU, Brighton, United Kingdom April 2005 i List of contents ....................................................................................................... Page Executive summary............................................................................................I 1 Introduction and objectives .......................................................................1 2 The benchmarking concept .......................................................................5 3 Implementation of the benchmarking concept.......................................13 4 Benchmarking results across European Member States......................17 4.1 Policy trends ..............................................................................17 4.2 Policy effectiveness....................................................................24 5 Assessment of the benchmarking process and recommendations for improvement........................................................31 5.1 Assessment by participating countries.......................................31 5.2 Limitations of the benchmark approach: the role of case studies........................................................................................33 5.3 Conclusions ...............................................................................36 6 Literature ...................................................................................................39 Annex 1: Definitions........................................................................................41 Annex 2: Policy Goals.....................................................................................43 Annex 3: Methods ...........................................................................................47 ii ........................................................................................................Page Annex 4: Country profiles.............................................................................. 73 1 Austria ....................................................................................... 74 2 Belgium ..................................................................................... 79 3 Czech Republic ......................................................................... 84 4 Denmark.................................................................................... 86 5 Estonia ...................................................................................... 91 6 Finland ...................................................................................... 94 7 France ....................................................................................... 99 8 Germany ................................................................................. 103 9 Hungary................................................................................... 108 10 Ireland ..................................................................................... 110 11 Italy.......................................................................................... 115 12 Lithuania.................................................................................. 119 13 Luxembourg ............................................................................ 121 14 The Netherlands...................................................................... 125 15 Poland ..................................................................................... 129 16 Portugal................................................................................... 131 17 Slovakia................................................................................... 135 18 Slovenia .................................................................................. 138 19 Spain ....................................................................................... 141 20 Sweden ................................................................................... 145 21 United Kingdom....................................................................... 150 22 United States........................................................................... 155 23 Canada.................................................................................... 157 iii ....................................................................................................... Page Annex 5: Output indicators ..........................................................................159 Annex 6: Case Studies..................................................................................177 v List of Tables ....................................................................................................... Page Table 2.1: The benchmarking concept ...................................................................7 Table 3.1: Overview of Member States participating in the benchmarking project..................................................................................................15 Table 4.1: Overview of biotechnology policies in the old EU Member States, USA and Canada in 1994/95 (expert's assessment) ..............18 Table 4.2: Overview of biotechnology policies in old EU Member States in 2004 (national policy-maker's assessment).....................................19 Table 4.3: Overview of biotechnology policies in the new EU Member States in 2004 (national policy-maker's assessment) .........................20 Table 4.4: Normalised output indicators for the old EU Member States, US and Canada. Historical Analysis 1995–2002.................................25 Table A.3.2.1: Qualitative overview of biotechnology policies ....................................61 Table A.3.2.2: Quantitative assessment of biotechnology policy portfolio..................62 Table A.3.3.1: Output indicators used to map national performance in biotechnology ......................................................................................66 Table A.3.3.2: Availability of output indicators for the new Member States (NMS) ..................................................................................................71 Table A.6.1.1 VIB’s patent portfolio in 2003 ............................................................185 Table A.6.1.2 Division of returns on VIB patents .....................................................186 Table A.6.1.3 Industrial agreements and collaborations in 2003.............................187 I Executive summary Introduction and objectives Biotechnology has a high priority on the political agenda of the Member States of the European Union. However, designing policy to foster innovation in biotechnology is not an easy task, because biotechnology is a complex field with complex potential outcomes and impacts. The policy-making process faces a number of challenges: In order to assess the effectiveness of various policies it is necessary to describe and assess the specificities and functions of the national biotechnology innovation systems and relate them to specific policy areas and policy goals. Assessing national strengths and weaknesses relies on the availability of suitable indicators. Finally, policy instruments need to be adapted to the stage of the industry life cycle in each country and to the global evolution of the industry. With respect to all these issues, at present only partial information is available. Therefore, so far no systematic approach for benchmarking public biotechnology policy has been made. In line with the Communication of the European Commission “Life sciences and biotechnology – A strategy for Europe” (action 12), this project tries to fill this gap and provides firstly a conceptual and methodological basis for benchmarking public biotechnology policy, and secondly performs the first implementation round of the benchmarking in European Member States. The benchmarking concept The benchmarking concept combines the portfolio of national biotechnology policies with the national performance in biotechnology. Three key aspects are considered in this context: (1) the systemic nature of the innovation process in biotechnology; (2) the different policy areas involved in its promotion; and (3) the time lag between policy action and potential policy outcomes. Four broad sub-areas of biotechnology innovation systems were identified as targets for potential policy intervention: (1) the generation and maintenance of a suitable knowledge base for biotechnology and the availability of qualified human resources; (2) the transmission of biotechnological knowledge from the sites of its generation to possible loci of application; II (3) the full integration of biotechnology into economic sectors via the successful introduction of biotechnology-based products into the markets; (4) the industrial development of the biotechnology sector including small and medium-sized enterprises and larger firms. Within these four subsystems, altogether 14 goals for policy action were identified. The policy goals were assigned to seven policy areas (education, research, exploitation, industrial development,
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