ABSTRACT
In Chapter 9 we pointed out that although both the biotechnology and software sectors belong to a broad category of technology-intensive sectors, there are sharp differences between their dominant technological regimes. Despite inner differentiation, biotechnology is the most common example of a science-based or science-driven sector (Coriat et al. 2003). On the other hand, the characterization of the software sector’s dominant technological regime is less clear and consensual. Some authors have ascribed it to the specialized supplier category (de Jong and Marsili 2006) while others have labelled it simply as information-intensive (Tidd et al. 1997). However, it has also become clear that there is inner differentiation in both, inviting us to conduct an analysis that goes beyond the sectoral boundaries. This is the approach adopted in studies that try to identify technological regimes by drawing directly on firms’ data (de Jong and Marsili 2006; Leiponen and Drejer 2007; Peneder 2010).
