Firm Innovation and Industry Transformation. The Case of German Biotechnology.

Abstract

The present thesis consists of four papers dealing with the topic of innovations, leading to industry transformation for the case of biotechnology in Germany. Based on the evolutionary and Neo-Schumpeterian economics framework, empirical papers investigate the role of science-technology interaction, formal and informal networks for the industry development. Apart from that, the importance of special kind of innovation (radical innovation) as well as the role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in that context is outlined. This thesis provides the empirical evidence for the significance of peer networks for the firm innovations, both intra- and interregional, within and between connected subfields.