Innovation in policy-making for big science: a cultural analysis of interdisciplinary research in China's biotechnology industry

Purpose Big science has become a new normative standard in transforming science policy with the interdisciplinary research (IDR) pattern serving as an organizational strategy in scientific inquiries. This paper aims to show how policy-making is organized in the real situation of the R&D sectors for this trend. Design/methodology/approach Cultural theory and new institutionalism are tinkered for a close examination of the ways in which IDR has been enacted and implemented in BGI Group, an exemplar of big science and leading biotechnology research facility in China, by interrogating institutional cultures in the context of big science projects, whilst investigating how IDR is evolved against the specific social process of interaction. Findings The findings include that the IDR has profoundly influenced how scientific knowledge is produced, the social interactions between stakeholders and the innovation of research policy within the network of China's biotechnology industry. Originality/value Advances in biotechnology and related fields are redrafting China's hi-tech industry development and governance landscape. This is the first empirical study of innovation in R&D management for big science project as presented by the IDR pattern in the BGI. It makes an important contribution to the understanding of both the nature of China's biotechnology industry governance practices and the culture of scientific innovation within which the IDR mediates social interactions and thereby the policy-making process.