High-tech hopes: policy objectives and business reality in the biopharmaceutical industry

This paper analyses Finnish biotechnology policy and combines this with a look at the evolution of a university spin-off company's business models. It offers a rare grass-roots perspective on policy implementation and further develops the business model concept. Business models should be understood as future-oriented ‘where-to’ artefacts that can be used to develop business activities to meet future economic demands. Concerning policy implementation, this paper highlights the obstacles that small companies encounter when they operate as part of the global knowledge-based economy, as well as describing the solutions that may be developed to overcome such hurdles. The paper concludes that the business activities of high-tech companies might be supported by: first, strengthening the public support systems of young companies; second, developing the business models of those companies so as to gain income early; and finally, focusing national efforts on building new industries in areas where some industrial tradition already exists. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.