Is China Catching up Human Health-related Applications of Biotechnology?

Biotechnology is still in the early stage of development. It offers a window of opportunity for emerging developing countries catching up. Scientific research and industrial applications of biotechnology in China have been rapidly developing. The paper examines whether Chinese biotechnology is catching up leaders in the field. The approach follows the conceptual framework of Malerba’s Sectoral System of Innovation and Production (Malerba and Nelson, 2012), complemented by Mathew’s (2002) insight into strategies for latecomer firms. The data for the empirical analysis are mostly from China’s Science and Technology and High Technology Industry Yearbooks and bibliographic data on Chinese scientific publications and patenting. Brief case studies of outstanding organizations complement the statistical analysis. The results of the study show that China is fast catching up in scientific research, and more moderately in industrial production of biotechnology-based manufacturing of drugs and medical devices.