This chapter draws some conclusions about science and technology
based on the theoretical and empirical discussions in previous chap-
ters. Both scientific and technological activities involve searching for
new knowledge and techniques, but it has been proposed that scientific
activities are generally about understanding the world whereas techno-
logical activities are generally about controlling nature for human pur-
poses. Either type of activity can, however, be carried out under either
market or government influence. For example, scientific activities can be
financed and expected to give economic advantage, however uncertain
and distant it may be.

One advantage of this conceptual framework is that it no longer
makes assumptions about which type of activity is carried out at which
type of organization. Researchers at different types of organizations --
universities, firms, and so forth -- are instead assumed to choose which
type of knowledge-seeking activities to engage in, and they can make
different choices at different points. For example, a university researcher
can first compete in the basic scientific environment through scientific
activities and then later start a biotech firm to sell scientific-economic
knowledge which is perceived to have value in the techno-economic
environment. This has been a common pattern in the modern biotech
business, where basic researchers start biotech firms to sell R & D con-
tracts to established firms. This perspective thus separates agents and
knowledge-seeking activities from the socially constructed environments.

This chapter first addresses how and why agents engage in scientific
and technological activities in response to the four environments by
analysing the historical material about genetic engineering for human
growth hormone and insulin. The focus is on agents, environments, and
knowledge-seeking activities from the 1970s and 1980s. The next section
discusses cross-stimulus of scientific and technological activities, or
interactions in the development of the two bodies of knowledge. This
contributes to debates about the similarities and differences among

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