Doing Business in Biotech: European Paradigm Versus American Success

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is the central element of growth and economic development. In the absence of it, however abundant and available the economic resources may be, progress cannot be achieved in any field of activity. The entrepreneurial process presents both common and specific elements, depending on the level of economic development, the pace of technical progress, the social and cultural elements, the applied development strategies and policies, the level of education, the conjectural aspects, etc. For this reason, a comparative analysis of successful factors in entrepreneurship can make a valuable contribution to identifying aspects that can decisively influence the stimulation and sustainable development of entrepreneurship. We refer here to national, regional, or microeconomic level effects and to the level of various fields of activity such as biotechnology. The American entrepreneurial process is characterized as the most advanced in the world, and this is intended to encourage other countries to make sustained efforts to reduce development gaps in entrepreneurship. As far as US entrepreneurship in biotech is concerned, there is an important difference between it and the degree of development of entrepreneurship at European level for several reasons. Thus, identifying the similarities and differences between the European and American perspectives on entrepreneurship in biotech can reveal several directions for action to increase the speed of development of this field in the future.