Recent events have resulted in a great deal of publicity about competitiveness. Among the so-called races in high technology, the biotechnology race has attracted much attention and comment. In the United States, there is much concern about the perceived possibility that history may repeat itself, and that a technology that was invented in the United States may find its most impressive commercial applications developed in Japan.
It is all very well to talk about competitiveness, not withstanding much of the belligerent nonsense we have recently heard and read. Every academic and industrial unit should aspire to be as competitive as possible. The best ones accomplish this, and their productivity attests to that. But to focus only on competition, as seems to be the vogue today, risks missing some very important aspects of biotech nology in 1987, and for the rest of this century.
The field continues to grow dynamically, almost...
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