Collaboration, Innovation, and Funding as Survival Factors for Canadian Biotechnology SMEs

This chapter aims to determine the factors, such as collaboration, research and development, intellectual property, product management and financing, that influence the survival of biotechnology firms in Canada. The research uses data from four biannual surveys on the use and development of biotechnology collected by Statistics Canada between 1999 and 2005, and follows these firms in the official business register of the organisation up to 2009, to build a Cox proportional hazard model of firm survival. The research finds that firms that collaborate for exploration purposes have better chances of survival than others. Results also suggest that a larger number of patents decreases the probability of survival. Investigation of the product development process shows that because of the vast resources necessary for clinical research, firms enter the production and commercialisation stage in a weak position, which may then result in firm exit.