Introduction

We are living in exciting times. The pace of technological development in the 1980s and 1990s has been and will be heralded as a veritable revolution, whether this be in biotechnology, materials science, microelectronics or other ‘high’ technology fields. With this has come the need to incorporate novel information into products and services and hence, new industries have been born. This book focuses upon the biotechnology industry which, due to its fragmented nature, conveys unique characteristics that should be considered in commercial exploitation. However, it is hoped that the general principles that are described will be applicable to other fields and be of use to anyone wishing to take their technology to market. This book will be of relevance to academics at all levels, to university administrators, to entrepreneurs and to those wishing to enter the technology transfer business.

The technology gap

Molecular and cell biology is revolutionising many aspects of everyday life, allowing the coercive engineering of novel drugs, detection of genetic defects and disease states, making agricultural and industrial processes both more cost effective and friendly to the environment as well as making improvements in the quality of foodstuffs, amongst others. The US was first to realise the potential of this technology and some of the companies that arose in the early days are now familiar names, Genentech, Amgen and Cetus for example.