Adapter l’imaginaire des biotechnologies à la pétrochimie

Abstract

Since the end of the 20th century, the imaginary of living being reducible to its genetic information has been a decisive factor in the generalization of biotech considered as a set of new innovation practices associating the academic and industrial worlds, particularly in the medical sector. This article suggests that there multiple socio-technical imaginaries of the living that could be used to adapt the biotechnology innovation model beyond the medical sector. Based on the trajectory of a scientific and economic project aimed at getting microorganisms to produce a small molecule between the early 1990s and the mid-2010s in France and North America, this article argues two things. Firstly, it describes how the notions of platform molecules and metabolic pathways are at the heart of a biochemical imaginary of the living, updating an ancient vision of the living that has been erased by the rise of genetic engineering. On the other hand, the article shows how certain properties of this biochemical living are mobilized to adapt the biotechnology model to the industrial chemistry sector and to new territories.

Keywords

• trajectory
• sociotechnical imaginary
• biotech
• bioeconomy