Hopkins, Michael M, Crane, Philippa, Nightingale, Paul and Baden-Fuller, Charles (2019) Moving from non-interventionism to industrial strategy: the roles of tentative and definitive governance in support of the UK biotech sector. Research Policy, 48 (5). pp. 1113-1127. ISSN 0048-7333

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial No Derivatives. Download (4MB)

Abstract

This paper develops a framework for characterising tentative and definitive governance modes. Using investor financing of UK-based therapeutic biotech firms as a context, the paper traces how policy makers have blended tentative and definitive elements in the design and implementation of six different kinds of policies to spur investor support for these firms. We find that tentative and definitive governance are used together to balance the need for certainty with necessary responsiveness to the dynamic circumstances that surround technological emergence. Moreover we show that the relative use of tentative and definitive modes is shaped as much by higher landscape-level influences as by technology or sector-level factors. Challenges are also identified, for instance, how to maintain synergistic rather than either/or relationships between state and non-state actors when both hesitate to engage with markets at different times.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	University of Sussex Business School > SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit
Depositing User:	Michael Hopkins
Date Deposited:	10 May 2019 14:20
Last Modified:	02 Oct 2020 13:00
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/83704

View download statistics for this item

📧 Request an update