Abstract
This article analyzes the experience of industrial upgrading in South Korea and India in the global biopharmaceutical industry. From a comparative historical approach, it is analyzed how during the last years and before a scenario of expiration of the patents of the pharmaceutical products of greater complexity, these two countries managed to advance in “very late” industrialization processes based on a creative imitation strategy. It is inquired, in particular, how these countries followed different paths of entry: on the one hand, that of “stage skipping”, which demanded a set of deliberate actions aimed at favoring certain activities or sectors in a focused way; on the other, the sequential type, in which the institutional and policy changes were more gradual, ensuring a set of general conditions of technological infrastructure and intellectual property.
Keywords:
Upgrading; Biotechnology; Pharmaceutical industry