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Interdisclipinary Science

Mapping the Dynamics of Emergent Technologies (MDET)

This project aims to deepen the understanding of how new technologies emerge. Technologies are developed in distributed epistemic networks that align and misalign to varying degrees. In the case of emergent fields, desirable technological developments are often hindered as a result of this lack of alignment. Hence there is a role for public policy for supporting the coordination of the networks. This project aims to fill this evidence gap and map how these networks develop, align and misalign.

    The research combines quantitative methods for analysing social and cognitive networks using publication data, qualitative methods to capture institutional developments and  novel mixed qualitative-quantitative approaches to investigate the visions, values and shared expectations of the researchers. .

    MDET is a joint project by SPRU (University of Sussex), ASCOR (University of Amsterdam), and IFRIS (University of Paris-Est), funded by the ESRC and the ANR under the Open Research Area call.

     

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    Materials (only for project participants): 

     

    Big Pharma, Little Science?

    Big Pharma, Little Science? A bibliometric perspective on big pharma’s R&D decline

    Technology Forecasting and Social Change (online)

    Nominated to Best Paper Award in the 2012 DRUID Conference

    Ismael Rafols, Michael M. Hopkins, Jarno Hoekman,Josh Siepel, Alice O'Hare, Antonio Perianes-Rodríguez and Paul Nightingale

      Abstract

    There is a widespread perception that pharmaceutical R&D is facing a productivity crisis characterised by stagnation in the numbers of new drug approvals in the face of increasing R&D costs. This study explores pharmaceutical R&D dynamics by examining the publication activities of all R&D laboratories of the major European and US pharmaceutical firms during the period 1995-2009. The empirical findings present an industry in transformation. In the first place, we observe a decline of the total number of publications by large firms. Second, we show a relative increase of their external collaborations suggesting a tendency to outsource, and a diversification of the disciplinary base, in particular towards computation, health services and more clinical approaches. Also evident is a more pronounced decline in publications by both R&D laboratories located in Europe and by firms with European headquarters. Finally, while publications by big pharma in emerging economies sharply increase, they remain extremely low compared with those in developed countries. In summary, the trend in this transformation is one of a gradual decrease in internal research efforts and increasing reliance on external research. These empirical insights support the view that large pharmaceutical firms are increasingly becoming ‘networks integrators’ rather than the prime locus of drug discovery.

    Complementary files

     

    Complementary File 1