Interactive learning in functional genomics innovations

Abstract

After the completion of the Human Genome Project we have now entered the functional genomics era in which researchers try to uncover which genes do what when and why. In their slip stream producers are developing now products based on this new knowledge. At the same time this innovation wave brings back images of possible prospects envisioned during the biotech revolution (1990’s) and its silent death before the turn of the millennium. Analyses show a mismatch between producer’s possibilities and consumer’s wishes and expectations about this new technology. The possible benefits of functional genomics should not have the same fate ex ante and therefore the interaction between users and producers of functional genomics products is studied: Interaction between stakeholders in an innovation process can be regarded as a learning process in which wishes and expectations on the one side and possibilities on the other may align the network of involved stakeholders, which can lead to a successful innovation. Accordingly, this paper focuses on the processes of interaction in functional genomics innovations and whether and how interactive learning is taking place? We take an interactive learning approach to user producer interactions in functional genomics in order to get a deeper understanding into the precise mechanisms at work from which do’s and don’ts for innovation processes can be derived. We apply our approach to two pilot case studies of pharmaco- and nutrigenomics developments.