Case Study: The global biotechnology industry

Biotechnology is on of the so-called high-tech industries, often located on purpose-built science parks. They cover a large range of activities that are broadly related to the modification of living organisms for human purposes. It's origins go back to the domestication of animals and plants, the improvement of both plants and animals i.e making them more productive or disease resistant. Biotechnology involves applying sciences such as biology, in fields such as:

• Healthcare- searching for plants with medical value, developing new drugs
• Food production- the development of genetically modified (GM) crops and livestock
• Industrial use of crops- vegetable oils and biofuels
• The environment- recycling, treating waste and cleaning up polluted sites 
• Warfare- the development of biological weapons 

United States= 3301 biotechnology firms

UK= 48

Slovenia= 4

Biotechnology is primarily a quaternary activity since it is largely about research and development and serves all three of the other sectors. A basic location factor is a good supply of graduate scientists. All of the worlds biotechnology firms are in HICs. Most of the firms have links with university reaserch departments. Virtually half of these firms are located in the USA. 

Once these firms come up with a product, such as a new anti-malaria drug, that is believed to have a good market, then it will simply be a matter of setting up some form of factory based mass production. It is likely that such a factory could be set anywhere in the world where labour and land are cheap. It would need to be located in an HIC, near the research centre or near to any particular market or raw material source.