Biotechnology is a field of biology that involves the use of living things in engineering, technology, medicine, etc.. Modern use of the term refers to genetic engineering as well as cell- and tissue culture technologies. However, the concept encompasses a wider range and history of procedures for modifying living organisms according to human purposes, going back to domestication of animals, cultivation of plants and "improvements" to these through breeding programs that employ artificial selection and hybridization. By comparison to biotechnology, bioengineering is generally thought of as a related field with its emphasis more on mechanical and higher systems approaches to interfacing with and exploiting living things. United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines biotechnology as:^[

"Any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use."

Biotechnology draws on the pure biological sciences (genetics, microbiology, animal cell culture, molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology, cell biology) and in many instances is also dependent on knowledge and methods from outside the sphere of biology (chemical engineering, bioprocess engineering, information technology, biorobotics). Conversely, modern biological sciences (including even concepts such as molecular ecology) are intimately entwined and dependent on the methods developed through biotechnology and what is commonly thought of as the life sciences industry.

The first challenge in describing the effect of biotechnology on a global economy is to define biotechnology. The term “biotechnology” means different things to different people. Some view biotechnology as all forms of biological research. To others, biotechnology includes the use of classical breeding techniques that have been used for years to create new plants, animals (e.g., improved livestock), and foods (e.g., baking and brewing).

Others view biotechnology as comprising modern biological techniques (e.g., rDNA, hybridoma technology, or monoclonal antibodies) that have resulted in greatly increased understanding of the genetic and molecular basis of life. Some people have analogized biotechnology to a set of new tools in the biologist’s toolbox, by referring to “biotechnologies”. To Wall Street financiers and venture capitalists who invested in the creation of companies in this area, biotechnology represents a hot, new source of financial risk and opportunity. Congress, increasingly involved in public policy questions raised by biotechnology, in one statute referred to products “primarily manufactured using recombinant DNA, recombinant RNA, hybridoma technology, or other processes involving site-specific genetic manipulation techniques”.

In a 1984 report, after extensive canvassing of academicians, industrialists, and government officials involved in biotechnology, OTA arrived at two definitions of biotechnology. The first definition - broad in scope - described biotechnology as any technique that uses living organisms (or parts of organisms) to make or modify products, to improve plants or animals, or to develop micro-organisms for specific uses. This definition encompasses both new biological tools as well as traditional uses of selecting organisms for improving agriculture, animalhusbandry, or brewing.

A second, more narrow definition refers only to “new” biotechnology: the industrial use of rDNA, cell fusion, and novel bioprocessing techniques. It is the development and uses of this new biotechnology that has captured the imagination of scientists, financiers, policymakers, journalists, and the public.

Reference :

US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Biotechnology in a Global Economy , OTA-BA-494 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, October 1991).