Life Science New Ventures in Scotland, How International are they? The Summary Report

<p>Life Sciences and the biotechnology sector in particular, is achieving rapid growth within a dynamic and global industry. The market for life sciences firms, and especially biotechnology firms, is for the most part global and the industry highly reliant on knowledge and expertise located in geographically dispersed clusters of excellence. The long term survival of SMEs, and the local economies in which they reside, relies on the ability of new venture life science firms to internationalise early, establish international partnerships and secure contracts with major international life science companies. From the perspective of small new ventures in life sciences sectors the challenges are often threefold, and encompass: 1) establishing and growing a new venture, including its knowledge and resource base, and the establishment of a sustainable income stream, 2) developing and commercialising a new technology, for which there may be no clearly defined market at the outset, and 3) internationalisation, which to some extent may be inevitable and embedded in other processes, but which needs to be acknowledged and accommodated by firms as an integral part of growth and development. The aim of this study is to determine the extent to which a sample of 20 innovative small life sciences new ventures in Scotland are international, or prepared to be international. Taking an exploratory, qualitative approach, this is the first stage of what is intended to be a longitudinal study that will trace life science new ventures over time and examine the effect of early international decisions such as for example, the choice of international partner on growth trajectories and sustainable development. Research questions explored here are: how international are Scottish life science new ventures, to what extent and how quickly have they internationalised over their life span to date, what gaps in their early resources, competencies and capabilities may inhibit their ability to compete internationally early, and what managerial and policy implications emerge regarding the international competitiveness and sustained international growth and development of life science new ventures?</p> <p>Findings indicate that internationalisation, as indicated by the source of revenue, commences early, usually within 2 years of foundation and life science new ventures can expect that their first customers will be based in overseas markets. Although internationalisation commences early, the preparedness of most life science new ventures for rapid and sustainable international growth is generally weak. For example human capital such as international education, experience and language ability and the presence of foreign nationals within the founding team was patchy across the sample indicating that some firms may be ill prepared for early, rapid internationalisation. International networking activity featured strongly for all firms and significant events and milestones reported were often international in nature. Most firms were aware of direct competition from local and international sources but the youngest firms tended to define their competitive advantage as vested in the technology rather than its market applications or firm specific competencies. Firms widely reported a view that the competitive advantage they have locally, would also be their advantage in international markets.</p> <p>Implications for policy are to continue to integrate programmes designed to support the early stages of development of firms in new and emerging technologies and in particular, life sciences, across entrepreneurship, innovation and internationalisation processes. Key amongst managerial implications are that founders of science based new ventures need to make explicit preparations for internationalisation from the outset. Particularly pertinent for future research are questions relating to the early international contracts on both technological and growth trajectories of life science firms, the impact of rapid internationalisation on the firms’ ability to develop capabilities and competencies in addition to their core technologies to ensure sustainable competitive advantage in dynamic global industries.</p&gt