Biotechnology in comparative perspective / Gerhard Fuchs and Gerhard Krauss -- The role of small firms in US biotechnology clusters / David B. Audretsch -- The development of biotechnology clusters in the USA from the late 1970s to the early 1990s / Martha Prevezer -- The competencies of regions : Canada's clusters in biotechnology / Jorge Niosi and Tomas G. Bas -- Geographic clustering in the UK biotechnology sector / Philip Cooke -- The Rhine-Neckar-Triangle BioRegion : scientific excellence and catching up in development / Gerhard Krauss and Thomas Stahlecker -- French biotech start-ups and biotech clusters in France : the importance of geographic proximity / Frederic Corolleur ... [et al.] -- Success and failure in the development of biotechnology clusters : the case of Lombardy / Stefano Breschi, Francesco Lissoni and Luigi Orsenigo -- Dutch cluster policy and the character of regional concentration of biotech firms / Christien Enzing -- The fourth pillar? : an assessment of the situation of Finnish biotechnology / Gerd Schienstock and Pasi Tulkki