ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the emergence of dedicated biotechnology firms in countries or regions that are peripheral to the main concentrations of biotechnology knowledge and business, putting particular emphasis on the role played by a variety of local and extra-local networks in their creation and early development. For this purpose, we start by discussing the conditions that favour the formation of these firms and that make their development viable and highlight some aspects that may differentiate them from firms in more central locations. Drawing on the cases of Portuguese and Southern Italian firms that were examined in previous chapters, we then compare and discuss their business positioning and their early networking activities, with a view to uncovering the main specificities of their behaviour and reaching a first understanding of the implications for the respective country/region.
