Analysis of biotechnology companies’ needs related to supporting their entry into the marine biotechnology industry

Abstract

This study seeks to analyze the needs of biotechnology companies in relation to their entry into the marine biotechnology industry and to discuss the policy implications associated with empirical tasks based on issues raised from empirical results gathered from a survey data of 200 biotechnology companies in Korea. This study made a comparison between marine and non-marine biotechnology companies and analyzed non-marine biotechnology companies’ needs related to their entry into the marine biotechnology companies by using Social Network Analysis (SNA). Empirical results indicate that 23.5% of biotechnology companies produce goods using marine bio-resources. Once the utility of marine bioresources is established, 58.8% of non-marine biotechnology companies intend to enter the marine biotechnology industry. This study also shows that non-marine biotechnology companies need technical support, information sharing, and the acquisition of raw materials to enter the marine biotechnology industry. The findings in this study provide important pointers for the direction of policies and future research in the area of marine biotechnology industry. © 2017, Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute. All rights reserved.