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Life Sciences and Regional Innovation: One Path or Many?

Author

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  • Meric S. Gertler
  • Tara Vinodrai

Abstract

Despite the widespread interest of national, regional and local governments in promoting their own biotechnology industry, it is now well known that this sector exhibits characteristically high levels of geographical clustering in a relatively small number of locations. However, what is less well understood is how these regions have emerged and evolved through time. While there is a tendency to conceive of the necessary and sufficient conditions in fairly universal and formulaic terms—strong research universities with leading medical schools, a well-developed local venture capital industry, and a deep labour market in highly skilled scientific occupations are factors that are most commonly emphasized—we contend that the evolutionary pathways followed by individual regions with successful life science sectors are far from identical. Differences in local historical, geographical and institutional conditions are likely to shape and constrain the subsequent actual evolution of life science industries in particular places in distinctive ways. In this paper, we examine this issue through the lens of a national, 5 years, collaborative research initiative analyzing cluster development and evolution in Canada. We present findings from the study of life science industries in Canada's three largest city regions (Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver), as well as in three smaller city regions (Ottawa, Saskatoon and Halifax). Despite the conventional wisdom that public and private research institutions determine the trajectory of life sciences cluster development, our research suggests that a multiplicity of institutional and non-institutional actors, alongside background regional conditions and chance events, provide the impetus for cluster emergence and growth. We find that regional-scale policy interventions within an overarching national institutional framework have both intended and unintended consequences in helping determine the shape and nature of each region's life science clusters. Finally, we find that both local and non-local sources of knowledge are important to sustaining growth, innovation and dynamism within life science clusters.

Suggested Citation

  • Meric S. Gertler & Tara Vinodrai, 2008. "Life Sciences and Regional Innovation: One Path or Many?," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 235-261, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:eurpls:v:17:y:2008:i:2:p:235-261
    DOI: 10.1080/09654310802553514
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kean Birch & Andrew Cumbers, 2010. "Knowledge, Space, and Economic Governance: The Implications of Knowledge-Based Commodity Chains for Less-Favoured Regions," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(11), pages 2581-2601, November.
    2. Guido Capaldo & Margarida Fontes & Lorella Cannavacciuolo & Pierluigi Rippa & Cristina Sousa, 2015. "Networks Mobilized to Access Key Resources at Early Stages of Biotech Firms: A Comparative Analysis in Two Moderately Innovative Countries," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(7), pages 1381-1400, July.
    3. Zafer Sonmez, 2018. "Interregional inventor collaboration and the commercial value of patented inventions: evidence from the US biotechnology industry," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 61(2), pages 399-438, September.
    4. Ren Lu & Ruikan Zhang & Torger Reve, 2013. "Relations among Clusters in Six Chinese City Regions," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(8), pages 1189-1209, August.
    5. Josephine V Rekers, 2016. "What triggers innovation diffusion? Intermediary organizations and geography in cultural and science-based industries," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(6), pages 1058-1075, September.

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