OECD Biotechnology Statistics - 2006

The OECD Biotechnology Statistics – 2006 edition brings together the latest available economic and activity data on biotechnology and innovation, collected by OECD member and a number of nonmember countries.1 The report builds on the extensive work of the OECD and national experts to improve the comparability of biotechnology statistics. The results should provide a valuable source of information on biotechnology for policy makers, academics and business managers. The first OECD collection of biotechnology indicators was published in 20012 and provided data for 21 OECD member countries and 1 observer country. However, comparable data across countries was only available for biotechnology patents, bibliometrics, venture capital, GM crop hectares, and GM field trials. Data were also available for up to 16 countries for employment, business R&D, and turnover for biotechnology firms, but the comparability of these indicators was limited by the lack of clear definitions of ‘biotechnology’ and 'biotechnology firm’. Improving the comparability of biotechnology indicators – and their collection – has posed several major challenges for national statistical systems. Unlike ICT or other technologies, there is no single biotechnology ‘sector’ that can be quickly identified and surveyed. Instead, biotechnology consists of a collection of related technologies with pervasive applications in many different economic sectors, including agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, mining, petroleum refining, environmental remediation, human and animal health, food processing, chemicals, security systems, and many different industrial processes. It is precisely the range of current and potential applications of biotechnology, together with their economic, environmental and social impacts, that creates a policy interest in obtaining high quality economic and innovation indicators for biotechnology.