Financing Life Science Innovation : Venture Capital, Corporate Governance and Commercialization

Financing Life Science Innovation reviews the literature on venture capital, corporate governance, and life science venturing and presents a study of the Swedish life science industry and the venture capital investors being active in financially and managerially supporting life science start-up firms. The life sciences are widely treated as a field and an industry with high-growth potential, and while neoclassical economic theory prescribes that capital are invested in emerging industries, there is a perceived shortage of venture capital among life science entrepreneurs. Financing Life Science Innovation reviews the literature on venture capital, corporate governance, and life science venturing and presents a study of the Swedish life science industry and the venture capital investors being active in financially and managerially supporting life science start-up firms. The study reveals that venture capital investors, life science entrepreneurs, and innovation system actors today face the challenge of supplying adequate amounts of capital to an industry that may produce tomorrow's health care innovations. Changes in scientific research practices, the structure of the international finance market, and industry policy are all contributing to what is frequently treated as a shortage of venture capital in the life sciences "The life sciences are widely treated as a field and an industry with high-growth potential, and while neoclassical economic theory prescribes that capital are invested in emerging industries, there is a perceived shortage of venture capital among life science entrepreneurs. Financing Life Science Innovation reviews the literature on venture capital, corporate governance, and life science venturing and presents a study of the Swedish life science industry and the venture capital investors being active in financially and managerially supporting life science start-up firms. The study reveals that venture capital investors, life science entrepreneurs, and innovation system actors today face the challenge of supplying adequate amounts of capital to an industry that may produce tomorrow's health care innovations. Changes in scientific research practices, the structure of the international finance market, and industry policy are all contributing to what is frequently treated as a shortage of venture capital in the life sciences"-- Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction: Competitive Capitalism and the Role of Capital Investment....Pages 1-12 Front Matter....Pages 13-13 The Financialization of the Economy....Pages 15-53 Corporate Governance and the Supply of Commercial Human Capital....Pages 54-90 The Methodology of the Study....Pages 91-104 Front Matter....Pages 105-105 Valuing and Investing in Life Science Companies....Pages 107-136 The Corporate Governance of Life Science Companies....Pages 137-161 Promoting Life Science Venturing and Innovations: Developing National Innovation Systems....Pages 162-204 Front Matter....Pages 205-205 Managing Life Science Innovation....Pages 207-228 Back Matter....Pages 229-248