XII. BIOTECHNOLOGY 



No big science facilities in the area of biotechnology have been 

 identified for this inventory. The subject has been included here, 

 however, because the potential exists for such facilities to be deve- 

 loped over the next five to ten years according to some experts in 

 the field. Should this occur, it would represent a further extension 

 of the classical definition of big science from "pure" areas like 

 high-energy physics into more applied and engineering-oriented areas. 

 In terms of construction costs, biotechnology "big science" facili- 

 ties in the near-term future likely would be in the neighborhood of 

 the $25 million level. Because of the comnercial nature of much 

 biotechnology, perhaps much of the potential international coopera- 

 tion in this area would be carried out through multinational corpora- 

 tions rather than through international agreements or practices be- 

 tween governments and agencies. 



(43) 



