Chapter 2 Encouraging R&D in Ireland's Biotechnology EnterprisesKate Johnston et al.Encouraging Research and Development in Ireland's Biotechnology Enterprises

Abstract

Biotechnology is now considered a key emerging sector in Ireland's economic landscape. Defined as the ‘application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents’ (Forfás Report, 2005), biotechnology is now the main high-technology driver affecting industries as diverse as food, agriculture human health and environmental protection. In 2002 it was estimated that over 400,000 people worldwide were employed in biotech (InterTradeIreland, 2002), with the market for biotechnology products worth an estimated 100 billion (European Commission, 2002). However, according to the Technology Foresight Ireland Report (1999), these figures are predicted to increase significantly, with the expectation that, by the end of 2006, the biotechnology sector will be worth an estimated 250 billion and will employ more than three million workers.

Citation

Johnston, K., Henry, C. and Gillespie, S. (2008), "Chapter 2 Encouraging R&D in Ireland's Biotechnology EnterprisesKate Johnston et al.Encouraging Research and Development in Ireland's Biotechnology Enterprises", Groen, A., Van Der Sijde, P., Oakey, R. and Cook, G. (Ed.) New Technology-Based Firms in the New Millennium (New Technology Based Firms in the New Millennium, Vol. 6), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 7-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1876-0228(08)06002-X