Post-Fordism and Agricultural Biotechnology

Taiwan government has declared biotechnological industry as one of the most important industries in the 21st century. Although government will put billions of NT dollars in biotechnological R&D, legal problems and genetic resources are other key issues. This paper analyzes why agricultural biotechnological industry emerged, and why legal problems will be essential to its success. This paper, with the theory of regulation school, emphasizes the importance of institutions to economic development. With the transformation of production mode, intellectual property rights have become more important and more strategic to industries. However, legal protection in agricultural biotechnology is two-edged. On the one hand, companies can get rewards for their innovations, on the other hand, those who provide genetic resources should also get their rewards. Equalization of interests is a new challenge for international community now. This paper analyzes several legal issues and recent development, then provides some suggestions for Taiwan's policy-making.