Measuring 'High Tech' Social Capital in the Biotechnology Sector Located in Vancouver, British Columbia

The health of a regional economic system can be measured many ways. One of the indicators is a high rate of innovative practice. The study of innovation has many different facets including the social aspects of innovations, the creative aspects of knowledge flows and the geographic and social capital characteristics of innovative locales. Despite our knowledge of innovation and communication of innovations, there is a lack of ways to measuring innovation in high tech knowledge based economies that focus on measuring social capital. This work examines the Greater Vancouver Biotechnology sector as a case study for measuring social capital within a cluster. Initially, patent citations identify an active biotechnology cluster. Social capital networks were then identified as mattering to the cluster actors and were measured through the Internet. These web-based network measures of social capital show the health of a cluster and portray where current policy models are working.