Abstract
Since the early 1980s Canada has created a set of incentives in order to develop the new biotechnology based on genetic engineering. In the beginning, the emphasis was on agriculture and environmental biotechnology, but already by the late 1980s the focus had changed towards human health products and services. Even if the federal government was the original policymaker, several provinces added their own incentives in order to nurture a local industry. Although policies have been changing in scope and goals, the results have been positive and the country has acquired a certain leadership in several biotechnologies. National and regional innovation systems are the organising framework of this paper as they have proved useful in analysing the institutional canvas of biotechnology.