ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the institutional arrangements in which Scottish life science firms operate. It looks at public sector support, labour market dynamics and private finance in Scotland. Overall it is evident from the discussion of institutional embedding here that certain institutional arrangements underpin the positioning of Scottish life science firms in global commodity chains as part of a successful process of industrial upgrading that is in stark contrast to wider problems Scotland has faced with industrial transition. This chapter considers how the new forms of economic governance and institutional arrangements developing in knowledge-based commodity chains provide insight into regional upgrading and industrial transition in knowledge-based sectors. It examines this underlying tension in the analysis of economic governance and institutional grounding of industrial transition, thereby illustrating the local-global dynamic in the Scottish life sciences.
