While conventional wisdom suggests that not all regions can have biotechnology, many national science policies target it as a future growth sector. The evidence here presented shows that cluster-building strategies are working and new clusters are emerging on a global basis. Particular growth areas include Asia and Eastern Europe. Two papers in this follow-up Special Issue on the subject after that published in Volume 12, No. 7 (October) 2003 anatomise growth prospects there. Two others focus on developments in the UK and Canada, both of which are leading bioscience research and commercialisation economies. The final paper shows how international cross-border clustering is happening in Scandinavia. Each paper reveals that while biotechnology appears a rather narrow field, its applications are so wide in health, agro-food, energy and environmental sectors that it is becoming a core competence across a substantial segment of the modern economy.