Abstract
This study examines the factors that contribute to the R&D activity of drug discovery and reagent bio-ventures in Japan. We mainly focus on the external networks built by these ventures. We target 186 bio-ventures established from 1995 to 2015 and analyze the networks of their joint patent applications. We find that positions of bridging relationships with other organizations in the network; that is, betweenness centrality is positively correlated to R&D activity. We also analyze how the origins and attributes of organizations affect the network effect. Furthermore, we find that bio ventures’ IPOs boost the network effect, while being a university-launched venture reduces the network effect.
