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In the opinion of many specialists, biotechnologies have in general kept their promise with regard both to results expected from research and to their potential applications over the last ten years, in particular in the industrialized countries. This decade will witness the marketing of an increasing number of biotechnology-derived products, which will co-exist with conventional products or will replace them.

The control of innovation in biotechnology is increasingly falling in hands of large multinational firms and consortia. Developing countries have begun to pay attention to the positive as well as the negative impacts of biotechnology in all areas of development and some of them are supporting biotechnological research. Nevertheless most of these countries have followed an imitative pattern to select their research programs and, as a consequence of this, they have found a lot of obstacles to generate innovations capable to reach the commercialization stage. This reflects a lack of sound methodologies for setting priorities of development which are essential in order to allocate effectively limited human and financial resources, to avoid a disarticulation of research from its practical application, concentrate on realistic opportunities and reduce duplication of effort.