In the early 1980s, biotechnology caused worldwide excitement as a high technology with almost unlimited potential in science, medicine, and industry. It not only allowed the manufacture of traditional products more quickly and inexpensively, but also offered the possibility of synthesizing valuable materials anew. All this made it very attractive to Japanese policymakers, who ‘targeted’ it as a high priority area for economic growth. Originally published in 1989, Biotechnology in Japan is the first published in English to analyse the Japanese effort to promote the new biotechnology industries. The author examines the strategies used for developing biotechnology in Japan and looks at the active role of government in a field in which the Japanese rapidly became the world leaders. Focusing on the making and implementation of biotechnology policy, he considers the relationship between the public and the private sector, and makes use of different political constructs to analyse Japan’s complex and unique balance between competitive market forces and collective interest.

Biotechnology in Japan is a complete guide to economic, scientific and regulatory aspects of Japanese research centres and companies. Profiles for more than 400 private Japanese companies and almost 200 universities and research institutes are given in great detail. Ministries providing research guidelines and ongoing research projects are analysed. The book is the first comprehensive source in the English language and is of particular interest to consultants, managers and researchers seeking cooperation with Japanese partners.

This directory provides the reader with quick-access to information on more than 8000 companies, research centres and academic institutions involved in new and established technologies. This edition offers more than 600 all-new organization listings, including new listings in Europe.

Vitamins and related growth factors belong to the few chemicals with a positive appeal to most people; the name evokes health, vitality, fitness, strength . . . . each one of us indeed needs his daily intake of vitamins, which should normally be provided via a balanced and varied diet. However, current food habits or preferences, or food processing and preservation methods do not always assure a sufficient natural daily vitamin supply, even for a healthy human being; this is all the more true for stressed or sick individuals. Although modern society is seldom confronted with the notorious avitaminoses of the past, they do still occur frequently in overpopulated and poverty- and famine-struck regions in many parts of the world. Apart from their in-vivo nutritional-physiological roles as growth factors for man, animals, plants and micro-organisms, vitamin compounds are now being introduced increasingly as food/feed additives, as medical-therapeutical agents, as health-aids, and also as technical aids. Indeed, today an impressive number of processed foods, feeds, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and chemicals contain extra added vitamins or vitamin-related compounds, and single or multivitamin preparations are commonly taken or prescribed. These reflections do indicate that there is an extra need for vitamin supply, other than that provided from plant and animal food resources. Most added vitamins are indeed now prepared chemically and/or biotechnologically via fermentation/bioconversion processes. Similarly, other related growth factors, provitamins, vitamin-like com pounds, i. e.

This book deals with the technologies that make the commodification of the genetic ("fourth") resource possible and it discusses how these technologies affect agriculture, especially in developing countries