Biotechnology is now playing an increasingly important role in our lives. The last 20 years has seen an explosion in the application of genetics, cells, and their components to improve the quality of life, from new therapeutic treatments and rapid diagnostic tests to improved disease resistance in crops. At the time of writing, some 1300 biotechnology companies have emerged in the USA employing over 150000 people, with new therapeutic products providing multi-million dollar sales. This same trend is now being repeated in Europe and the next five years should see the successful commercialization of new biotechnology companies
and the transition of biotechnology start-ups into established players.