The drug taxol has been hailed by many in the cancer community as a major breakthrough in the treatment of cancer. It has already been approved in use against ovarian and advanced breast cancer in many countries world-wide. Taxol has also promoted profound debates in the policy arena not, as one...

Focusing on the chemical industry, this paper examines the co-evolution of systems of component technologies within industry structures, and vice versa, in an open-ended process of interaction, continuous change and adaptation. The empirical evidence is based on patenting activity 1890-1990,...