(Illustrations by Joelle Bolt)
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The Outputs
The category scores reflect a country’s capacity for biotechnology innovation, but intentionally sidestep output. Measuring output would be too polarizing, yielding insufficient information on the prospects for future innovation. The United States’ biotechnology output is far higher than other countries—due to its size, economic strength and other factors—and comparing other countries to the U.S.’s output would diminish the important differences among them. Although measurements of output and company performance were not included in the innovation score, they are still important to develop a perspective of global biotechnology innovation. So here are selected measurements that serve as accessories to the innovation score.
Innovation capacity depends on context. Furthermore, different countries might elect to focus on different areas. R&D activities in some countries, for example, might eschew the popular quest for therapeutics in favor of agricultural or industrial applications. The measurements on this page provide perspective on these trends.
Issues such as regulatory transparency, ease of regulatory approval, bans on specific applications and control of drug pricing can also influence the capacity for innovation. Such factors also influence decisions by multinational firms to place facilities in certain countries. In fact, companies often locate R&D and other operations in proximity to the largest, most-accessible markets. Accordingly, the market-size measurements (above) are included here as indicators.
