Science and Society in Biotech Enterprises: New Organisational Frameworks and Knowledge-Sharing Processes

During recent decades we have witnessed a transformation in science that has stimulated new organisational forms of knowledge production; the boundaries between science and market are becoming increasingly blurred. Essentially, science and society are moving towards an “integrated system”: choice of problems, conflict resolution, and negotiation of solutions no longer develop in a “closed environment” occupied only by scientists, but in a public space that includes various social actors. In the field of biotechnologies, this transformation has led to the emergence of firms that adopt new organisational forms based on a network structure linking universities, research institutions, non-profit organisations and other firms, by means of stable relationships. The logics that regulate creation and development of these networks are not only based on criteria of efficiency and performance improvement, but depend, rather, on a process of institutionalisation, which leads to their becoming consistent with the beliefs and values of the actors involved. Our research in this field has focused on the processes of transformation and management of knowledge. In Italy, in particular, where biotechnology has only recently spread, it is of utmost importance to pay attention to knowledge transformation that involves regulatory subjects, and the gaining of know-how by researchers. This development progresses step by step throughout the “de facto” networks constructed amount biotech enterprises. In this context, our field research has relied on a case study, based on a qualitative approach, of a university spin-off in the field of biotechnology. In the first part of this field research, we focused on the figure of the researcher. He or she changes his or her traditional role by shifting his or her competences from a pure researcher’s standpoint to a more market-oriented position. Knowledge is transformed, from time to time, according to the qualification of those involved (patent releaser, researcher, holding and subsidiaries, authorities, consumers, etc.). This is a functional shift, the aim of which is to make knowledge useful and fruitful for specific purposes, whilst ensuring “knowledge givers” that their property rights will not be violated.