Which social and political interests have been influential in the creation of the Cuban biotechnology sector? Is it the needs of the national public health system that are being served, is it scientific knowledge production that is given priority, or are commercialization and generation of export earnings the primary objectives? And how are potentially diverging interests mediated and articulated, and how are such controversies settled and resolved? This paper is a first approximation to these questions. It turns out that the conceptual toolbox of field of innovation system studies is poorly developed for studying such issues, so by way of a criticism of the lack of agency and interest perspectives in the concept of 'institutions' in innovation system studies an alternative theoretical framework is developed based on actor-network theory. A second field work in Cuba is being planned, and the objective of this paper is to identify some research strategies for that field work. Presented at the GLOBELICS 6th International Conference 2008 22-24 September, Mexico City, Mexico.