The aim of this book is to offer a complex mapping of actors, forms, levels, processes, and domain issues associated with issues of learning and knowledge creation in alliances and collaborations within the biotechnology industry. The mapping is not exhaustive or conclusive as it leads to further research directions, new analytical concepts, foci directions, and interrelations that need to be examined. In many respects, the book offers a taste of the many important “flavors” associated with studies on learning, collaborations, and networks in the biotechnology industry. In this final chapter, the general findings and arguments presented in the book are summarized, and a few important directions that future research might explore further are suggested.

The first chapter introduced the concepts of “collaboration” and “learning” in the context of the biotechnology industry. Understanding these concepts is related to issues of levels of analysis, which are needed for understanding of the knowledge creation and learning processes within and between organizations. The aim of the chapter was to establish the analytic elements used in the book and to exemplify the complexity involved in studying exchanges that are embedded in multilevels and multi-units.

The organizational literature on alliances and learning in the biotechnology industry was reviewed in Chapter 2, which introduced the main actors in the industry and highlighted some of the research on them. In addition, the chapter provided some comparison with what is known about other knowledge-intensive industries.