Much of the attention paid to biotechnology in recent times has focused on applications that are a long way off, like cloning or a cure for cancer. Amid the futuristic hoopla, it is easy to overlook the fact that biotechnology has already brought important benefits through the discovery of new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics. Moreover, a quiet revolution has gone almost unreported, even though it is generating unprecedented change in an industry that touches our lives every day. Biotechnology is revolutionizing the food chain in a way that will affect millions of people across the globe.

What media coverage this topic has received has mostly dwelt on consumers' concerns about the safety of genetically modified crops. While this issue must be addressed, the negative press obscures biotechnology's impressive potential to provide plentiful, nutritious, and novel food for the world's growing population. With innovation gathering pace as the new century dawns, biotechnology is also creating exciting opportunities for players in the food industry. The effects on its structure and economics could be profound.

Having made massive investments in new products and processes, biotechnology developers face obstacles in exploiting them fully because of the dynamics of current value delivery systems. These...