Developing Biotechnology Clusters in Non-high Technology Regions—The Case of Austria

This paper explores the role of distant knowledge links and policy actions for the development of biotechnology clusters. It seeks to challenge the prevailing view that the birth and early development of high technology industries are always spontaneous phenomena which are mainly based on local knowledge. Departing from the theoretical concept of regional innovation systems (RIS), a distinction between “RIS with strong potentials for high technology industries” and “RIS with weak potentials for high technology industries” will be drawn. It will be argued that in the latter case the development of biotechnology clusters is more dependent on distant knowledge sources and proactive policy efforts to create a favourable environment for high technology activities. Furthermore, it will be shown that a far-reaching transformation of the regional innovation system is crucial for catching-up processes of regions which are latecomers in high technology sectors such as biotechnology.