Roles and limitations of ICT based media for biotechnology firms' innovation

Innovation in terms of new product development (NPD) in the biotechnology industry is characterised by two salient features: teams operating in the global context and ever-shortening lead times. It is generally recognised that communication plays a key role in facilitating these. But, in recent years, new forms of information communication technology (ICT) based media have emerged to provide electronic infrastructure for e-innovation. The role of these newer media in the innovation process is not well understood. In this paper, six organisations operating in the biotechnology area based in Australia were studied. Results of in-depth interviews with senior representatives of these firms show that, in Australia, there is a need to ensure that the new forms of ICT media are effectively integrated with the traditional forms of communication, and that important issues such as physical propinquity have not been satisfactorily resolved to enable successful NPD using an e-innovation platform. The latter suggests that many issues remain unresolved. This paper attempts to articulate these succinctly.