History and Past Activities
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History and Past Activities |
Peter Groenewegen
Social Aspects of Science and Technology, Faculty of Sciences, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam
The Nertherlands
e-mail: p.groenewegen@mdw.vu.nl
Virtual Science?: ICT in network formation in biomedicine
The development of common software platforms leads to the emergence of meta-information strategies. In such strategies new actors (scientists as well as start up ICT companies) integrate ICT and science. New companies have emerged at a high rate in the field of bioinformatics. Bioinformatics is in part an off-shoot of the Human Genome project, where large amounts of information were catalogued in databases and the information became increasingly complex. Such companies develop for instance software which integrates research tools with organizational processes such as project planning and provides access to chemicals and biological materials. A significant number of companies that integrate scientific, information and design software with web applications have started. They arose because of the necessity to integrate large amounts of diverse information. The consequence of the rise of ICT as a basis for cooperation is that the technological frame has been standardized and virtual action has enhanced the formation of coalitions and cooperation structures as the focus of entrepreneurial activity around information as a commodity.
The composition and change of networks consisting of genomics, biotechnology, information technology and the pharmaceutical industry will be analyzed and the question will be addressed whether the industry is transformed. The network composition suggests that certain key elements of the innovation process are increasingly embedded in commercially available technological frameworks.
Sociology of Science and Technology NETwork - last update: April 2006