PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLABORATION

Public private collaboration in plant biotechnology is unusual in China because the private sector plays a very small role in the Chinese agricultural input industry. There are few public private collaborations and also some examples of collaboration between state-owned research institutes and state-owned commercial enterprises. Both types of collaborations are likely to grow in the future – particularly if the government allows private firms to play a larger role in the input industries, intellectual property rights on biotechnology are strengthened, and regulations on biotechnology are rationalized. Key words: biotechnology; China; regulations; collaboration; private sector; state-owned enterprise; seed industry; research; Monsanto One of the strengths of agricultural biotechnology in the United States (U.S.) and Europe has been the close collaboration between public and private institutions that conduct research and that are starting to commercialize biotechnology products. Many of the new biotechnology companies that have spun off from universities continue to work closely with them through individual contacts with former colleagues and through contract research. The large seed and chemical firms that work on agricultural biotechnology also have close links with U.S. universities and with the U.S. Department o