Knowledge Intensive Innovations Management: Networking within and across Boundaries

This paper explores the impact of increased knowledge intensity on industry and firm structures for the purpose of ensuring sustained abilities to create new knowledge within the context of biotechnology. The paper focuses on understanding the drivers and limitations of collaboration between various small firms, larger companies, and universities within a Finnish biotechnology context. In addition the paper examines the formation of a national network, “a cluster”. The paper reports on action research within biotechnology based on a longitudinal study of the measures taken in order to develop the Finnish Pharma Cluster into a dense national knowledge network supporting management of knowledge intensive innovations across corporate and university boundaries. The used research method can be classified as action research as the authors have been and still are involved as active players within the Finnish Pharma Cluster contributing to the formation of the Finnish Pharma Cluster as researchers and as members of the Cluster. The results suggest that the ability to engage into shared knowledge creation is seen as a fundamental issue for leveraging technological competencies and that despite the existence of regional science parks, a national cluster is seen as important for the purposes of network based new knowledge creation and management.