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January 1998 | |
NEWS FOR THE AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY COMMUNITY
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January 1998 | |
NEWS FOR THE AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY COMMUNITY
SPECIAL ISSUE: INTERNET RESOURCES
for AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
New Year's Greetings from ISB
The ISB News Report begins 1998 with a Special Topic issue featuring Internet resources for agricultural biotechnology. We hope you find some new websites to explore, a discussion group to join, and some handy sources of business information, all in the following pages.
There's no way to list every website pertaining to agricultural and environmental biotech research, biosafety, and regulatory oversight, but we've tried to identify some of the most important ones. They are loosely grouped by origin and subject matter, but there is a lot of variability in focus and coverage, so it's worth spending some time exploring. The best approach is to just dive in and follow your own interests by taking advantage of the many links provided to other sites. We're always on the lookout for new resources to add to the list, so if you know of a useful site not included here, let us know.
At the suggestion of one of our readers, we have created a Netscape bookmark file of the websites listed in this issue, which are also linked to the ISB site. The file and instructions for incorporating it into your own bookmark file are available for downloading from http://www.isb.vt.edu/isb-marks.html.
ANNOTATED LIST OF WEBSITES
(Sites maintained by national and international organizations, governments, universities, public interest
groups, and commercial organizations. Descriptions are taken from the website's own text, where
available.)
Information Systems for Biotechnology
ISB provides information on agricultural and environmental biotechnology research, product development,
regulatory issues, and biosafety. This service is supported by a grant from USDA's Cooperative State
Research, Education, and Extension Service to Virginia Tech.
http://www.isb.vt.edu
National Agricultural Library (NAL)
The NAL provides access to a variety of information services and publications covering many aspects of
agricultural biotechnology. Specific topics include theory and techniques of genetic engineering, plant and
animal genetics, monoclonal antibodies, single cell proteins, food processing, biomass applications and risk
assessment and bioethics.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/bic
USDA/APHIS Biotechnology Permits
A division of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Biotechnology and Scientific Services
regulates and issues permits for the importation, interstate movement, and environmental release of certain
genetically engineered plants and microorganisms under the Code of Federal Regulations vol. 7 part 340.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/bbep/bp
National Institutes of Health Office of Recombinant DNA Activities
Responsible for the "NIH Guidelines For Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules".
http://www.nih.gov/od/orda
USDA/APHIS Transgenic Arthropod Team
Formed to deal with questions and policy related to transgenic arthropods and other invertebrates.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/bbep/bp/arthropod
U.S.EPA Toxic Substances Control Act, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics
This site was created to allow more efficient public, governmental and educational access to the TSCA
Biotechnology Program. Here you will find the regulation under which the Program functions,
supplementary documents created to support this regulation, as well as status reports on the submissions,
reviews, and agreements undertaken by the Program.
http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/biotech
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
Proposed, pending and final rules and policies regarding food biotechnology.
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/biotechm.html
USDA Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research Grants
Abstracts for the 1996 Grant Awards are
available, as well as Program contact information. Future Solicitations for Proposals will also be posted
here.
http://www.reeusda.gov/crgam/biotechrisk/biotech.htm
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Biotrack Online
BioTrack Online is part of OECD's Programme on the Harmonization of Regulatory Oversight in
Biotechnology. The main aim of this Programme is to produce documents for use by national authorities
for the regulatory assessment of genetically modified or release to the environment. The focus is on
genetically modified plants and microorganisms. Home of BIOTRACK, a database of environmental
releases from OECD member countries.
http://www.oecd.org/ehs/projects.htm
Biosafety Information Network and Advisory Service
BINAS is a service of the United Nations Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO). BINAS monitors global developments in regulatory issues in
biotechnology. BINAS tracks regulatory developments from many countries, including the full text of
regulations and guidelines.
http://binas.unido.or.at/binas/binas.html
OECD's Biotrack and BINAS
A joint link-up between OECD's website and UNIDO's BINAS website, both listed here. An alternative
method for connecting to either website.
http://www.olis.oecd.org/biotrack.nsf
United Nations Environment Programme International Register on Biosafety
This Web site offers information from many sources on biosafety. It focuses on information useful in
establishing a regulatory framework for the safe development, transfer, and application of biotechnology.
It also provides links to other Web sites concerning biosafety, biotechnology, and biodiversity.
http://irptc.unep.ch/biodiv
Biosafety Research and Assessment of Technology
Impacts of the Swiss Priority Program
The BATS
agency was founded in 1993 as a core project of the Priority Programme Biotechnology of the Swiss
National Science Foundation. The BATS agency is active in the acqusition, processing and communication
of applications-oriented information and know-how in biotechnology.
http://www.eurospider.ch/BATS/index.html
Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment/
Advisory Committee on Genetic Modification (U.K.)
ACRE and ACGM give advice to the Secretary of State on human and environmental safety concerning
the releases of genetically modified and non-native organisms into the environment.
http://www.shef.ac.uk/~doe
International Center For Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology - ICGEBNet (Italy)
ICGEB is an international organization established to promote the safe use of biotechnology world-wide,
with special regard to the needs of the developing world. ICGEB coordinates a network of national
laboratories in Member Countries. ICGEB's main activities are research, training (fellowships, courses)
and scientific services. The research activities are carried out by the laboratories of ICGEB, and also at the
Affiliated Centres, through a system of collaborative research grants.
http://base.icgeb.trieste.it
Biotechnology Strategies and Coordination Office (Canada)
The Biotechnology Strategies and
Coordination Office (BSCO) was formally established in 1993 (although it has been in operation since
1988) to provide a one-window approach for information on biotechnology in Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada.
http://www.cfia-acia.agr.ca/english/food/biotech/bsco.html
Belgian Biosafety Server
Biosafety in Belgium, Biosafety in Europe, Biosafety in the World, General Biosafety, Recommendations,
The Service of Biosafety and Biotechnology.
http://biosafety.ihe.be
Agricultural Biotechnology for
Sustainable Productivity
A project funded by the US Agency for
International Development to enhance institutional capacity for the use and management of agricultural
biotechnology research. Objectives are to address insect and pathogen constraints to food crop production
in developing countries, to develop bioreactor micro- propagation technology for cloning high value
plantation crops, and to foster policy implementation which ensures an environmentally and socially
responsible transfer of the technologies and their products.
http://www.css.msu.edu/users/sa/absp.htm
Convention on Biological Diversity -
Working Group on Biosafety
The Open-ended Ad Hoc Working Group on Biosafety (BSWG) held its first meeting in Aarhus,
Denmark, from 22-26 July 1996 to begin the elaboration of a global protocol on safety in biotechnology.
More than 90 delegations, including scientific and technical experts, representing both Parties and
non-Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) attended the meeting, as did observers
representing intergovernmental organizations, NGOs and industry.
http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/biodiv/bios
Innovative Technology of the Ministry
of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries - (Japan)
Guidelines, current status field tests, releases, and commercialization of transgenic plants.
http://ss.s.affrc.go.jp/docs/sentan
The European Federation of Biotechnology Task Group on Public Perceptions of Biotechnology
Established in 1991, some 50 members have been brought together from a wide range of groups with
interests in biotechnology from across Europe. Its primary aim is to foster greater public awareness and
understanding of biotechnology and to encourage public debate.
http://www.kluyver.stm.tudelft.nl/efb/tgppb/home.htm
International Service for the Acquisition
of Agri-biotech Applications
ISAAA, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, is a not-for-profit
international organization co-sponsored by public and private sector institutions with the aim of facilitating
the aquisition and transfer of agricultural biotechnology applications from the industrial countries,
particularly proprietary technology from the private sector, to developing countries for their benefit.
http://www.isaaa.cornell.edu
Cassava Biotechnology Network
The Network's small-grants program and regional representatives encourage international and
interdisciplinary cooperation. A newsletter, directory, and international meetings keep cassava
biotechnology specialists in touch.
http://www.ciat.cgiar.org/cassava/cbn/cbn.html
International Rice Research Institute
IRRI is a non-profit agricultural research and training center established to improve the well-being of
present and future generations of rice farmers and consumers, particularly those with low incomes. It is
dedicated to helping farmers in developing countries produce more food on limited land using less water,
less labor and less chemical inputs, and without harming the environment.
http://www.cgiar.org:80/irri
The Virtual Center of Biotechnology for
the Americas
This site provides fast and convenient means for
receiving and exchanging biotechnology-related information with particular emphasis on issues affecting
Latin America. http://www.ibt.unam.mx/virtual.cgi
IRRO Databases on Environmental Releases
IRRO is an information network, run on a non-profit basis, which aims to provide access to all types of
information relevant to the release of animals, plants and microorganisms into the environment. IRRO is
an acronym for the Information Resource for the Release of Organisms to the Environment.
http://www.bdt.org.br/bdt/irro
Cooperative Research Centre for
Plant Science (Australia)
The Centre exploits plant biotechnology to
develop and apply plant molecular, cellular and physiological research and training to the agri-food and
fibre industries and public sector.
http://biology.anu.edu.au/CRCPlantScience.html
International Service for National Agricultural Research
ISNAR assists developing countries in bringing
about lasting improvements in the performance of their national agricultural research systems and
organizations. It does this by promoting appropriate agricultural research policies, sustainable research
institutions, and improved research management. ISNAR's services to national research are ultimately
intended to benefit producers and consumers in developing countries and to safeguard the natural
environment for future generations.
http://www.cgiar.org/isnar
Agricultural Biotechnology Centre (Hungary)
The center deals with biotechnology research and development for an environmentally friendly Hungarian
agriculture. Its main tasks are research by means of genetic engineering and cellular techniques,
development of the technological and technical level of agriculture with environmentally adequate methods,
and the assurance of conditions for the transfer of new technologies.
http://www.abc.hu
CGIAR Research Centers
Links to the 16 International Agriculture Research Centers of CGIAR, the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research.
http://www.cgiar.org:80/centers.htm
Base de Dados Tropical
The Base de Dados Tropical (Tropical Data Base) is a department within the Fundação Tropical de
Pesquisas e Tecnologia "André Tosello", a Brazilian not-for-profit, private foundation. This bioinformatics
facilty provides access to databases as well as to many other Internet resources.
http://www.bdt.org.br/bdt
BIOSIS
An electronic public debate about biotechnology. Of particular interest is the Commercialization
of Plant Biotechnology Products.
http://www.scicomm.org.uk/biosis
Institute for Biotechnology Information
IBI has provided comprehensive information on commercial biotechnology to hundreds of organizations
worldwide - corporations, universities, and government agencies. IBI makes this information available in
a variety of formats, including databases, a unique array of publications, and special studies.
http://www.biotechinfo.com
National Biotechnology Information Facility
The National Biotechnology Information Facility (NBIF) will provide a single-point access to a vast store
of widely distributed biotechnology data. The NBIF will encourage information sharing between
researchers, promote biotechnology in Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Minority Institutions,
and provide training in biotechnology. The NBIF will also be active in developing new sources and types
of biotechnology databases.
http://www.nbif.org
National Agricultural Biotechnology
Council
Providing people with differing viewpoints a neutral forum where they can come together and freely
exchange ideas on the critical issues facing agricultural biotechnology, the National Agricultural
Biotechnology Council (NABC), founded in 1988, counts among its membership the leading agricultural
research and educational institutions from throughout the United States and Canada.
http://www.cals.cornell.edu/extension/nabc
Union of Concerned Scientists
The common threads of global sustainability and global security weave the Union of Concerned Scientists's
work on agriculture, arms control, energy, global resources, and transportation into a unified vision:
achieving a secure and sustainable world today without sacrificing the environment of tomorrow.
http://www.ucsusa.org
Institute of Food Technologists
Founded in 1939, the Institute of Food Technologists is a nonprofit scientific society with 28,000 members
working in food science, food technology, and related professions in industry, academia and government.
http://www.ift.org
Biotechnology Industry Organization
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) is the largest trade organization to serve and represent the
emerging biotechnology industry in the United States and around the globe. The organization's leadership
and service-oriented guidance have helped advance the industry and bring the benefits of biotechnology
to the people of the world.
http://www.bio.org
Bioline's Online Journal Biosafety
Titles and Abstracts of journals are available for browsing or searching free of charge. Full text and
associated graphics of material of interest may be requested online, following registration.
http://www.bdt.org.br/bioline/by
Bioportfolio
Dedicated to increasing awareness and communications between biotechnology investors,
researchers, and industry. Bioportfolio specialises in applied commercial developments utilising modern
biotechnological techniques impacting on the life sciences and associated industries.
http://www.bioportfolio.com
The Food Animal Biotechnology Center
A clearinghouse for information, with industry and the University joining to produce outstanding research
and practical knowledge. Their mission is to develop competitive, highly integrated food production
systems that provide safe, economical food products through the utilization of molecular tools and
methods.
http://fabctr.umn.edu
Progressive Farmer Online - Biotechnology
The future of farming is here -- seeds genetically designed to fight pests and resist herbicides. Progressive
Farmer Online takes a look at what this new technology means and what's on the biotechnology horizon.
http://www.pathfinder.com/@@XteY9gQA7hO6mHbX/PF/features/biomenu.html
Public Perception Issues In Biotechnology
The goal of this website is to provide information on communication of biotechnology issues and the
impact of biotechnology on society. The material currently displayed covers public perceptions of the
scientific, regulatory, educational, and commercial issues involving the many different aspects of
biotechnology, with emphasis on the environment and agriculture.
http://fbox.vt.edu:10021/cals/cses/chagedor/index.html
National Genetic Resources Program
The Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) web server provides germplasm information
about plants, animals, microbes and invertebrates within the National Genetic Resources Program of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
http://www.ars-grin.gov
Agricultural Genome Information System
AGIS provides genome information for agriculturally important organisms. At present, this encompasses
mostly crop and livestock animal species. Also included are a number of databases that have related
information, e.g. germplasm and plant gene nomenclature data. AGIS is a cooperative effort between the
Department of Plant Biology, University of Maryland, and the USDA's National Agricultural Library'
Genome Informatics Group.
http://probe.nalusda.gov:8000/
American Genetic Resources Alliance
A diverse group interested in the conservation of plant genetic resources. Evolved from a focus group
concerned with the work of the USDA/ARS National Plant Germplasm System, and working to generate
public awareness of and support for the National Plant Germplasm System's genetic resource conservation
work.
http://www.amgra.org/index.htm
DNA Bank at MAFF (Japan)
DNA bank at Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan is responsible for the preservation
of DNA and molecular information on agricultual organisms. This bank acts as a research support service.
http://bank.dna.affrc.go.jp
Fralin Biotechnology Center at Virginia Tech
The Fralin Center serves as a focal point for the development and dissemination of information of the
techniques and disciplines that make up this quickly evolving field. The Center serves to foster and
coordinate interdisciplinary research efforts in order to learn, to teach, and to reach out to our community,
to Virginia, and to the world.
http://www.biotech.vt.edu
Center for Plant Biotechnology Research-
Tuskegee University
The primary mission of this Center is to
employ innovative molecular and cellular genetic tools in the improvement of select crops such as
sweetpotato, peanut, cowpea and muskmelon, and to provide training in plant biotechnology to ethnically
underrepresented minority students and scientists from developing countries.
http://agriculture.tusk.edu/AgHe%20Website/Biotech%20Website/biotech.html
University of Wisconsin - Biotechnology Center
The mission of the UW Biotechnology Center is to maximize the benefits of biotechnology to the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin System, state and nation by being an excellent
quality, comprehensive, multidisciplinary biotechnology center that supports, coordinates, disseminates
and advances biotechnology.
http://calvin.biotech.wisc.edu
University of Idaho and IMAGE
The Institute for Molecular and Agricultural Genetic Engineering (IMAGE) was established at the
University of Idaho in 1984 to promote and coordinate biotechnology research. Projects of interest to
IMAGE have been in the areas of hazardous waste bioremediation, fermentation technology, microbial
ecology, and animal biotechnology. The Plant Biotechnology Group was recently established under the
sponsorship of IMAGE, to increase the University's effort in this important area.
http://image.fs.uidaho.edu
BIOTECHNOLOGY DISCUSSION GROUPS ONLINE
News groups and listservers provide one- or two-way avenues for discussion. Many biotechnologists use discussion groups to find answers to technical questions, advertise jobs, promote networking and exchange information with colleagues across the world. Often discussion groups host debates on topical issues such as the ethics of cloning or biosafety of transgenic plants. Many professional collaborations and friendships, often across continents, have been forged through news groups and listservers. [For more information about discussion groups and the distinctions between listservers and news groups, connect to http://www.reference.com/]
News Groups
Also called USENET, news groups are accessed through a news server (check with your internet service provider if you don't already have access; not all servers carry all news groups). There are fifteen thousand news groups on the net, with more added every day. A news group can be thought of as a public E-mail box that anyone can browse or send E-mail to. Messages are not sent directly to your E-mail box; you must connect to the news group (or subscribe) and retrieve the messages yourself, allowing you to pick and choose the messages you want to read. Subscribing to a news group is different than subscribing to a listserver. Subscribing essentially means selecting a particular news group for ready access the next time you want to browse news groups, and involves nothing more than clicking on the subscribe button in your news reader or browser, depending on your software.
Though there may be a few nuggets of useful information in newsgroups, they are often a jumble of messages which may or may not pertain to the subject matter the title suggests. They are, after all, completely public. For instance, a recent look at alt.agriculture.technology had only one message promoting a business partner in South Africa. Some of the news groups to explore are:
Additionally there are web sites which list the news groups in different formats. Many newsgroups and Usenet archives can be searched through http://www.reference.com/ or http://www.dejanews.com/
Listservers
A listserver is an E-mail service which can be thought of as a restricted E-mail box to which you must specifically subscribe before you can view or send messages. Messages from listservers are automatically sent to all subscribers' E-mail addresses. Listservers can be configured either to allow any subscriber to post messages which are then distributed to all subscribers (like the BCEPP listserver), or to restrict posting rights to only one or a few accounts (like the ISB News Report listserver, which does not allow subscribers to post messages - it only allows us to send the News Report out. (Reference the end of this News Report)
You can subscribe to most of these listservers by sending an E-mail and typing SUBSCRIBE 'group-name' 'Your Name' in the message section. Remember to leave the Subject line blank and to turn off your signature file. Many listservers can also be subscribed and read on the World Wide Web, while others can be accessed through News Reader software on the Usenet server.
A few points to remember with listservers:
Some useful Listservers:
Biotechnology Education and Public Policy
Send message: SUBSCRIBE BCEPP <your name> to listserver@relay.doit.wisc.edu
Post messages to: bcepp@relay.doit.wisc.edu
Plant Tissue Culture
(website: http://www.agro.agri.umn.edu/plant-tc/#P-TC)
Send message: SUBSCRIBE PLANT-TC <your name> to listserv@tc.umn.edu
Post messages to: plant-tc@tc.umn.edu
Business Aspects of Biotechnology
Send message: SUBSCRIBE BIZ-BIOTECH <your name> to listserv@netcom.com
Post messages to: biz-biotech@netcom.com
General Biotechnology (U of Maryland)
Send message: SUBSCRIBE BIOTECH <your name> to listserv@UMDD.umd.edu
Post messages to: biotech@umdd.umd.edu
General Biotechnology (Texas A&M Univ)
Send message: SUBSCRIBE BIOTECH-TEX <your-name> to listserv@listserv.tamu.edu
Post messages to: biotech-tex@listserv.tamu.edu
Bioassess: Biosafety Information
(website: http://binas.unido.org/binas/binas.html)
Send message: SUBSCRIBE BIOASSESS <your name> to majordomo@binas.unido.org
Post messages to: bioassess@binas.unido.org
Environmental Biotechnology
Send message: SUBSCRIBE ENV-BIOTECH <your name> to majordomo@igc.apc.org
Post messages to: env-biotech@igc.apc.org
DNA Markers and Genome
Send message: SUBSCRIBE RAPD to biosci-server@net.bio.net
Post messages to: rapd@net.bio.net
C. S. Prakash
Center for Plant Biotechnology Research
Tuskegee University
prakash@acd.tusk.edu
Doug King
Information Systems for Biotechnology
nbiap@vt.edu
ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTERS
There are many print newsletters that may be of interest to agricultural biotechnologists. For a list of free and paid subscription publications, connect to http://www.nal.usda.gov/bic/ Misc_pubs/news 0797.html.
ISB News Report - simply the best (!). To subscribe, send message: SUBSCRIBE NEWSREPORT <your name> to news@nbiap.biochem.vt.edu
The Bowditch Group Electronic AgBiotech Newsletter (http://world.std.com/~Bowditch/ index.html) - snippets of news about corporate activities, mergers and acquisitions, new product releases, collaborations, etc. Send message SUBSCRIBE to biotechnews-request@world.std.com
The Agbiotech Bulletin - information on the Canadian agbiotech industry; news from the lab, field and barn, legislative offices and the arena of public policy. Available in three formats (text-only attachment, Microsoft Word attachment, and full-format attachment readable using Adobe Acrobat Reader). Send E-mail to: agwest@agwest.sk.ca and specify which format you want.
The Gene Exchange (http://www.ucsusa.org/ucs.agpub.html) - information on U.S. government policy regarding genetic engineering, federal applications for field tests, and legislative initiatives for environmental release. The primary focus is on raising awareness about current or potential problems and negative consequences of genetic engineering. For a text-only version, send message SUBSCRIBE GENEX <your E-mail address> to: genex@ucsusa.org.
Pat Traynor
Information Systems for Biotechnology
traynor@nbiap.biochem.vt.edu
THE INTERNET AS A TOOL IN BIOTECHNOLOGY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Commercializing biotechnology requires knowledge in general strategic planning, market research, licensing, partnering, competitive intelligence gathering, intellectual property, and more. Building the necessary knowledge base to make informed business decisions requires access to information, and the Internet is an increasingly valuable resource for data acquisition. This article touches on some ways to use the Internet to gather information in the areas noted above.
A variety of sites provide background information on biotechnology topics. These may include sector or technology-directed sites, or more general association or government sites that provide overviews of specific topics. The Information Systems for Biotechnology site (http://www.isb.vt.edu) is a good example of a comprehensive source of information related to the agbiotech sector, with numerous links to other relevant sites.
A more general business information site is STAT-USA (http://www.stat-usa.gov), which for a nominal annual fee provides business, economic, and trade data for over 40 government agencies. One of the sections of this site, International Trade Resources, provides access to information from the National Trade Data Bank. Country Commercial Guides, Market Research reports, and International Marketing Insight (IMI) reports are just a few of the topic areas covered.
Information on strategic alliance activity is valuable for identifying potential collaborators, elucidating deal structures, and for general competitive intelligence. The consulting firm Recombinant Capital (http://recap.com) provides a searchable database of strategic activities of biotechnology firms. The Institute for Biotechnology Information (http://www. biotechinfo.com) also provides fee-based access to its proprietary Actions Database of U.S. biotech company strategic actions, as well as a searchable database of company profiles.
BioWorld Today (http://www.bioworld.com) makes available its daily fax newsletter and a searchable archive covering strategic activity in the biotechnology industry, in an online format via the Internet. Both of these BioWorld Internet services are for a fee, although you can search the archive for free, allowing the generation of a listing of hits (including the BioWorld reference). To download the actual articles requires a pay-per-view fee, or a subscription.
Internet users interested in technology transfer will want to visit the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) site (http://www.crpc.rice.edu/autm/), which contains a plenitude of resources related to technology transfer. These include sample institutional policies and agreements, patent resources, technology management tools, hot links to an extensive list of university technology transfer offices, and links to other resources related to technology transfer. For those interested in specific licensing opportunities as well as other general technology transfer information, Knowledge Express (http://www.knowledge express.com) maintains a fee-based site that offers an online collection of databases for technology transfer and commercialization, along with ongoing research, emerging technologies, company profiles, and financial news. For example, BioWorld's BioScan companies database can be accessed via this site.
Competitive intelligence allows interested parties to stay abreast of competition in a certain technology sector, as well as build awareness of what is being said in the public forum about their own organization. One way the Internet can be used for competitive intelligence is to monitor Internet newsgroups. A number of filtering systems and services offer users the ability to input specific terms and topics, which the search engine uses to dig into the thousands of newsgroups, returning positive "hits" that contain the search terms of interest.
For example, a search of the Deja News usenet database (http://www.dejanews.com) on the biotechnology company name "Mycogen" produced over 100 positive hits. Although not all of these hits were useful for competitive intelligence purposes, some did describe positive and negative comments regarding Mycogen products, as well as comments on competitor products. Not only is it advantageous to regularly monitor these groups, but it can be to an organizations disadvantage not to. Companies, for example, that do not take the reach of the Internet seriously my find themselves rushing to react to a situation that had been identified on the Internet months before, as Intel learned from its Pentium chip problem in 1995.
A variety of Internet Web sites contain valuable competitive intelligence information. Companies such as Individual, Inc., (http://www.newspage.com) are providing access to daily business news stories categorized by areas of interest. Individual Inc.'s Newspage contains categories including agricultural biotechnology, biotechnology company business news, and industrial biotechnology. In addition, some of the services are offering personal filtering options to allow the user to receive information with a higher level of relevance. These usually require filling out a profile sheet to identify user interests, which in turn drives periodic searches of the relevant web site(s).
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) maintains a web site (http://www.sec.gov) that is useful for finding information on companies whose stock is traded publicly, or who are registering with the SEC to sell their stock on a public exchange. The SEC site provides EDGAR, an archived database and search engine containing company SEC filings which are often rich with information on all facets of a company's business. More and more companies are also putting up their own web sites, and offering press releases, annual reports, descriptions of products in development, and more. Examples include Agritope (http://www.agritope.com) and DEKALB Genetics (http://www.dekalb.com).
Intellectual property (IP) protection is a mainstay of the biotechnology industry. Patent protection allows inventors exclusive rights that in turn provide opportunity for returns on research and development investments. There are a variety of reasons why stakeholders in the biotechnology sector should maintain an awareness of patent information, including the identification of potential collaboration and licensing opportunities, to stay abreast of technological advances within the industry, and to maintain an awareness of competitor activities.
A number of web resources address patents and other legal issues related to biotechnology. The law firm Foley & Lardner maintains the Biotech Law Web Server (http://www2.ari.net/foley), which contains multiple sections on U.S. patent law and practice, an IP Resource Center with links to additional sources of information on intellectual property protection, links and articles relevant to agricultural and drug-related biotechnology, and a European IP Law page. The IBM Patent Server (http://patent.womplex.ibm.com) provides a free searchable web site of U.S. patents. The IBM server lets you access over 26 years of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent descriptions as well as the last 23 years of images. The first entries date back to January 5, 1971. You can search, retrieve and study over two million patents.
MicroPatent's PatentWeb system (http://www.micropat.com), also offers free full-text searching of recent patents from the U.S. Patent Office and fee-based access to actual copies of any patent. The USPTO also maintains its own home page (http://www.uspto.gov) with U.S. patent search capabilities, including the US Patent Bibliographic Database, a freely searchable database of front page information from US patents issued from 1/1/76 to 12/30/97.
Although these semi-free Internet sources offer a reasonable resource for patent information, a serious patent search should include conventional for-fee online database systems such as Derwent World Patents Index, US Patents Fulltext, European Patents Fulltext, (patent text) and Derwent Patent Citation Index (patent citations), as well as other international patent databases.
As noted above, a growing number of sites are offering data over the Internet for a fee. One forecast of the growth of fee-based WWW sites estimates that the percentage of total online revenue generated from for-fee sites will have grown from near zero in 1995, to almost 30 percent by the year 2000, generating revenue of nearly $4 billion (USA Today, 1995). Although the thought of paying for information over the Internet does not set well with some Internet purists, it allows the end-user access to a greater breadth and higher quality of information.
The Internet sites mentioned above represent only a handful of those useful for evaluating business aspects of biotechnology; the list is by no means exhaustive. The purpose is to describe some of the areas relevant to the process of biotechnology commercialization, and illustrate how the Internet can be a valuable tool for providing information to aid the decision-making process.
The explosion of the Internet in recent years has lead some to believe that they now have a "free" source of data and information, replacing more traditional, and often more expensive, resources including online databases, CD-ROMs, and print publications. Although there are a host of ways to benefit from use of the Internet, the reality is that it is just another tool to be used in conjunction with the more traditional resources. It takes time and a working knowledge to mine the Internet's jewels, and even then, keep in mind that there still is a great deal of information that can only be found using other resources. In spite of this, the Internet should be a part of everyone's information arsenal.
William O. Bullock
Institute for Biotechnology Information, LLC
Research Triangle Park, NC
The material in this News Report is compiled by NBIAP's Information Systems for Biotechnology, a joint project of USDA/CSREES and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or of Virginia Tech. The News Report may be freely photocopied or otherwise distributed without charge. P.L. Traynor, Editor.
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