Cuba is an authoritarian, one-party state with strict curbs on free speech, political activism and economic freedoms. But investments in education and health care planted the seed of what is today an unusually sophisticated biotechnology apparatus for a small developing country, with at least 31 research companies and 62 factories with over 20,000 workers.

Wait so a country that's been under a crushing embargo for decades was still able to build a competitive biotech industry? I thought only free markets create innovation.