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Article Excerpt
Introduction
The biotechnology industry is expected by many countries to be one of the leading industries of the 21st century. The world's leading countries have consistently listed biotechnology among key technologies receiving national-level development assistance. The advantages of biotechnology include a wide range of applications, low pollution, and low energy dependence. Biotechnology is a highly technology-intensive and economically efficient field, and it is thought to be the most promising industry to arrive after the information industry. Taiwan's biotechnology industry is gradually developing thanks to active policy support from the government. The government's "Two Trillion, Twin Stars Plan" has designated biotechnology one of its "Twin Stars" industries eligible for focused developmental support. By promoting R&D and technological innovation in the emerging biotech industry, the government hopes to begin a new chapter in Taiwan's industrial development. The biotech industry encompasses a vast range of products and technologies, which include genetic engineering, cell fusion, bioreaction applications, cell culture, tissue culture, embryos, and nuclear transplantation. Biotech products currently include drugs, medical and health care items, agricultural products, foods, environmental, energy, electronics, and information products.
In comparison with other high-tech industries, the biotech industry possesses the following characteristics (Industrial Development Bureau [IDB], 2002): (1) Product development cycles are long, investment is huge, and risk is great; if a product is successful, however, the rate of return is high and the product life cycle is long. (2) Since products are closely connected with life and health needs, a high degree of quality and legal control is needed. (3) Since the industry is technology-intensive and involves integrated technologies, it needs specialized, interdisciplinary manpower. (4) The industry has a complex structure, a long value chain, and a high degree of professional specialization. (5) The industry is R&D-oriented, possesses highly valuable intangible assets, and can employ patents as a source of income. (6) Product and technology development are geared towards the global market.
These characteristics indicate that the biotech industry is a knowledge-intensive industry that needs protracted R&D and large infusions of capital. The development of government or private biotech organizations in many countries where biotechnology is highly developed, such as the United States, Britain, Germany, France, and Japan, provide verification of the foregoing attributes. In addition, various governments' policies promoting and assisting high-tech industry are highly important factors. Although Taiwan has listed biotechnology as one of its eight major technological areas since 1982, its biotech industry has not grown as fast as those in Europe and the United States due to lack of manpower, funds, and technology, as well as the fact that small and medium enterprises are the mainstay of Taiwan's economy. Taiwan's biotech industry is consequently still at an embryonic stage.
Taiwan's semiconductor and computer industries began to take off during the 1980s as a result of economic policy guidance from the government (Liu, 1993). The establishment of the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park (HSIP) (1) catalyzed the upgrading of Taiwan's industrial structure, and conventional labor-intensive industries have given way to technology-intensive industries. As a result, Taiwan enjoys one of prime position in the global division of labor. When the HSIP was first established, the government consulted foreign experience, and decided to establish the park in Hsinchu because of the area's major research and academic organizations, which could provide the park with manpower, research services, and technical knowledge. The government also provided tax incentives, financial assistance, manpower training, and other measures to ensure that high-tech industry bloomed. The reason that the HSIP--often dubbed "Taiwan's Silicon Valley"--was so successful was the cluster effect produced by nearby schools, research organizations, and the park itself (Chang & Yu, 2002). In order to assist local governments in developing the biotech industry and the establishment of a biotech industry park, Taiwan government promulgated the "Action Plan for Strengthening the Biotechnology Industry," in October 2001. The Taiwan's "2002 Biotechnology Industry White Paper" further lays out strategies for the development of the industry, including the proposed "establishment of a biotech industry park and stimulation of a clustering effect." A Taiwanese scholar (Sun, 2001) has pointed out that since Taiwan has still not established any biotech clusters, a biotech park is needed to create an industry cluster. This suggests that the establishing a biotech park should be a major strategy for Taiwan in developing the biotech industry. Taiwan's government should establish a dedicated biotech park along the lines of the HSIP as quickly as possible in the future, and use the park to promote the industry's development by attracting and assisting enterprises. Taiwan's local governments are actively promoting local industrial development, and are lobbying the central government to establish a biotech park in their areas. Because the location of a biotech park may influence the industry's subsequent development, the assessment and selection of a location should be conducted with prudence and care. This study therefore approaches location selection by taking into account the clustering effect, and employs the analytic network process (ANP) method (Saaty, 2001) to construct a selection model reflecting the multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) model and the mutual influence of various decision-making criteria. The results show that the ANP method can be used to determine the difference in
several alternatives when the mutual influence of clustering factors is taken into consideration. The method can therefore help policy decision makers...
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