Title: How can small firms benefit from open innovation? The case of new drug development in Taiwan

Authors: Yu-Shan Su; Hsin-Yi Hu; Feng-Shang Wu

Addresses: College of Technology and Engineering, National Taiwan Normal University, 162, Sec. 1, He-ping E. Road, Taipei, 106, Taiwan ' Graduate Institute of Technology, Innovation and Intellectual Property Management, National Chengchi University, No. 64, Sec. 2, ZhiNan Rd., Wenshan District, Taipei City 11605, Taiwan ' Graduate Institute of Technology, Innovation and Intellectual Property Management, National Chengchi University, No. 64, Sec. 2, ZhiNan Rd., Wenshan District, Taipei City 11605, Taiwan

Abstract: How can small firms manage and benefit from open innovation? We study three Taiwan's biotechnology firms leveraging open innovation in developing new drugs. At the phase of the new drug discovery, two companies acquired technology from external sources. CSRC Synpac Company acquired technology from Professor Yuan-Tsong Chen at Duke University (USA) in 1991. GlycoNex Company acquired technology from Professor Sen-itiroh Hakomori at University of Washington (USA) in 2001. AbGenomics Company developed its own technology at Professor Rong-Hwa Lin's team at National Taiwan University (Taiwan) in 2000. Through technology transfer, CSRC Synpac Company licensed out the new drug Myozyme to Genzyme Corporation (USA) in 2000. AbGenomics Company licensed out the new drug AbGn-168H to Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceutical (Germany) in 2005. GlycoNex Company licensed out the new drug GNX-8 to Otsuka Pharmaceutical (Japan) in 2009.

Keywords: open innovation; small firms; external partners; new drug development; Taiwan; biotechnology firms; new drugs; biotech firms; drug discovery; technology transfer; drug licensing; technology acquisition.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2016.080551

International Journal of Technology Management, 2016 Vol.72 No.1/2/3, pp.61 - 82

Received: 08 Jul 2015
Accepted: 31 Jan 2016
Published online: 29 Nov 2016 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article