Drawing upon extensive interviews with researchers, corporate executives and government oficials, this discussion sketches out several of the unresolved public policy issues associated with the development of a globally competitive biotechnology industry in the USA. Paramount among these issues are the determination of appropriate levels and types of gouernmental research support; the design of effective, as well as efJicient, regulatory regimes; and the establishment of tax, Jinancing and patent policies which facilitate the optimal industrial organization. If allowed to follow conventional patterns of resolution, these issues threaten to add to overall bureaucratization (both public and private). In turn, if bureaucratization continues unabated, it may become increas-ingly difficult to sustain the basic entrepreneurial character of the industry, as well as other elements which are crucial to scientifically intensive enterprises.