**1. Introduction**

Technological advancement has been the dominant driving force in modern society leading to a widespread diffusion of products from the rational activity as well as of scientific, technological, and administrative sources, which in turn requires new types of management [1].

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This technological progress has induced a new paradigm based on the development of a set of intensive knowledge on scientific technologies, which represent many applications of scientific discoveries, whose core is to develop an increasing competence to manage information and knowledge. In this contemporary setting, the intangibles assets such as knowledge (know how), patents, and intellectual capital become increasing value strategic elements to be the center of contemporary forms of capital accumulation [2].

Biotechnology as a highly scientific sector is one of the most knowledge-intensive activities in the contemporary economy, having a direct and indirect impact on regional and national economies. The phenomenon of growth in the production of biotechnological products is relatively new, and in the long term, the growth potential is probably associated with the greater diffusion and use of your products and processes due to its convergence with nanotechnologies, information technologies, and other applied sciences [3].

In this context, biotechnology is considered as one of the most important technological tools nowadays. It is considered a key "future-bearing technology" and its applications have contributed to the structuring of new economic and social systems [4]. In this sense, biotechnology appears to have the characteristics of a core technology, with the potential to underpin a new technoeconomic paradigm.

Biotechnology represents a set of technologies "that use biological systems, living organisms, or their derivatives to produce or modify products and processes for a specific use" [5]. Biotechnology features a multidimensional nature, involving different knowledges, scientific and technological. Indeed, biotechnology can be considered as the result of a scientific revolution that involves many disciplines. In other words, it is a "constellation of scientific revolutions" [6], which is based on different areas of knowledge such as molecular biology, biochemistry, computer science, biophysics, engineering, and others.

The large set of biotechnological methods along with its different forms of application results in different interpretations about the dimensions that compose the biotechnology [7]. It has helped to generate new high-impact services in various segments such as health area with impressive revolution in the treatment of diseases as well as the use of new drugs for humans. It is also possible to verify its impact on agriculture with the development of functional foods and the reproduction of plant species; in the chemical and petrochemical industries with treatments of wastes and wastewaters; and the sustainable use of biodiversity, among other areas [2].

When assessing the potential application of modern biotechnology for the next 20 years, some authors assert that areas such as genomics, proteomics (spatial identification of protein structures), biomaterials, bioengineering, pharmacogenomics, genetic engineering, genetically modified foods, and synthetic biology will have a great impact on the future [2, 8].

In view of these future prospects, the monitoring and research of scientific advances and trends in this area of knowledge have become essential for searching opportunities in research and development (R&D), as well as for potential innovations and business opportunities, in the developed countries and mainly in countries of emerging economies such as Brazil [2]. Countries with rich biodiversity, mainly South American countries such as Brazil and Colombia, have tried to develop national capacities in science and technology (through improving their infrastructure, greater participation in network experts, training of human resources, the increase publications) that allows a better optimization of scientific resources and economics and the generation of technological products based on nationally developed biotechnology [2, 9].

In this situational scenario, in order to propose worldwide profile of knowledge management of trends in biotechnology in Brazil, this chapter presents science trends in this area, mapped out through a set of variables such as the identification of the actors involved as well as the institutional partnerships, the major journals, among others, using the analysis of all Brazilian scientific publications of international dissemination for the period of 1995–2014.
