Introduction: Science Under the Auspices of Management Objectives

Abstract

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 14^th issue, 2007, The Economist declared that “what physics was to the 20^th century, biology will be to the 21^st”. 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.