Introduction: Science Under the Auspices of Management Objectives

In the report Science 2020, issued by Microsoft Research in 2006 and based on the collaboration between representatives of a range of scientific disciplines, the concept of science-based innovation is playing a central role. In the introduction of the report, it is stated: “A scientific revolution is just beginning. It has the potential to crease an era of science-based innovation that could completely eclipse the last half century of technology-based innovation, and with it, a new wave of global social technological and economic growth” (Science 2020: 10).1 In the concluding section of the report, the tone is less dramatic but the emphasis on science-based innovation is still central to the arguments advanced: “In a way that we have never seen before, science really will be absolutely vital to societies, economics, and our future on this planet towards 2020; and science-based innovation is likely to be at least equal technology-based innovation in its contribution to economic prosperity” (Science 2020: 72). In its June 14th issue, 2007, The Economist declared that “what physics was to the 20th century, biology will be to the 21st”. The intersection between science and biology is arguably one of the most interesting domains for innovation research, characterized by quick scientific and technological changes and new competitive landscapes.