Global Technology and Local Society: Developing a Taiwanese and Korean Bioeconomy Through the Vaccine Industry

Abstract

This article discusses approaches to forming a bioeconomy in Korea and Taiwan and presents examples of vaccine industrialization in the context of a dual-structured global vaccine market. The dual structure comprises high-priced vaccines manufactured by large companies that use advanced technology and traditional low-cost vaccines. During the mid-1980s, both Taiwan and Korea engaged in industrializing hepatitis B vaccines, which were among the first high-priced vaccines in the world. However, the countries developed into different market structures during the past quarter century. This study involved analyzing approaches to developing a bioeconomy in Korea and Taiwan by using a symmetrical approach that explained both the success and failure of technology in a society. We used networks as constructive elements of the bioeconomy to argue that two heterogeneous networks, production and adoption, were critical for constructing the local vaccine market and industry. Korea and Taiwan are characterized according to two network configurations: regeneration and translation, respectively. In Korea, the production network was formed before the adoption network. The production network regenerates vaccines to influence the adoption network. By contrast, the adoption network translates and defines the production network in Taiwan. It implies that, for vaccine technology learners such as Taiwan and Korea to develop the bioeconomy, a local society of translational or regenerative network configuration is as essential as the developmental state.

Keywords:

• bioeconomy
• vaccine industry
• production network
• adoption network
• Korea
• Taiwan

Acknowledgments

I thank guest editors Wen-yuan Lin and John Law, editor in chief Chia-Ling Wu, and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions on earlier drafts of this article. The first draft was presented in an EASTS workshop held at National Yang-ming University, Taipei, in September 2013. I acknowledge Jia-shin Chen, Wen-yuan Lin, Chia-Ling Wu, and other workshop participants whose comments helped me consolidate arguments in the drafts. This article presents some of the results of research projects MOST 100-2410-H-004-148-MY2 and 102-2410-H-004-108, funded by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan.

Notes

1 These terms are taken from emerging fields of the biomedicine. Regenerative medicine refers to a “process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function” (Mason and Dunnill 2008: 4). Stem cell therapy is a typical example of regenerative medicine. Translational medicine means translating findings from medical and clinical research into diagnostic tools, medicines, procedures, policies, and education. Clinical trials are crucial aspects of translational medicine. The two fields are growing rapidly.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tzung-wen Chen

Tzung-wen Chen is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at National Chengchi University. His major interests are social, economic, and political aspects of biomedical technology; governance of technoscience; and theorization of innovations. He has published a series of articles on phenomena of vaccine adoption in different societies, including France, Korea, and Taiwan.