Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
INNOVATION MODELS IN THE BIOPHARMACEUTICAL
SECTOR
JIM AT TRIDGE
Centre for Health Management
Tanaka Business School, South Kensington Campus
SW7 2AZ London, UK
jimattridge@aol.com
The innovation process in the biopharmaceutical sector is influenced by long business cycles,
multiple stakeholders and complex interactions. Early models of the innovation process are
inadequate to capture the complexity of innovation in the life sciences sector. In particular,
narrow classifications which describe innovations as “radical” or “incremental” are not
particularly useful when considered in the context of the complex patterns of interrelated
innovations observed in practice.
Many partial models of the innovation process which equate innovation to inven-
tive research, patenting and product development fail to recognise that innovation is
a cyclical and business-driven process and underscore the final phase of the innova-
tion process, namely, achieving timely market diffusion and adoption of innovations to
benefit patients and innovators. Innovation is sustained if it is appropriately rewarded.
Investment in the science base alone without appropriate reward system for innova-
tions is unlikely to promote renewed competitiveness in the European biopharmaceutical
industry.
Keywords
: Innovation; models; biopharmaceuticals; Europe; competitiveness.
General Models of Innovation
A large body of evidence strongly links innovation to economic growth.
(Schumpeter, 1934; Baumol, 2002) Therefore, it is not surprising, that governments
in developed countries are making strong efforts to promote innovation.
Early models regarded innovation as a linear process: a sequence of activi-
ties driven either by “technology push” (basic advances in knowledge) or “market
pull” (social or economic opportunities that provide an incentive for risk-taking
investment to seek new solutions). Later models recognised that success was highly
