Strong impulses for national technological development BioRegions in Germany Strong impulses for national technological development BioRegions in Germany – RESEARCH The Germany of Tomorrow This publication is distributed free of charge by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of its public relations work. It is not intended for commercial sale. It may not be used by political parties, candidates or electoral assistants during an election cam- paign. This applies to parliamentary, state assembly and local govern- ment elections as well as to elections to the European Parliament. In particular the distribution of this publication at election events and at the information stands of political parties, as well as the insertion, printing or affixing of party political information, are regarded as Impressum improper use. The distribution of this publication to third parties as a Published by form of campaign publicity is also prohibited. Bundesministerium Regardless of how recipients came into possession of this publication für Bildung und Forschung / and how many copies of it they may have, it may not be used in a man- Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) ner that may be considered as showing the partisanship of the Federal Publications and Website Division Government in favour of individual political groups, even if not within 11055 Berlin the context of an upcoming election. Orders In writing to the publisher Postfach 30 02 35 53182 Bonn Or by Phone: +49 (0) 1805 - 262 302 Fax: +49 (0) 1805 - 262 303 (0.12 Euro/min.) E-Mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.bmbf.de Contributions The Bioregions and companies are responsible for the texts of their contributions. If not stated otherwise they also hold the copyrights of the photographs and graphics therein. Photograph on cover: Merck KGaA Printed by Druckerei Bonn&Fries 57074 Siegen Berlin 2004 Printed on recycled paper BioRegions in Germany Strong impulses for national technological development RESEARCH The Germany of Tomorrow Contents Foreword 5 Introduction 6-9 BioRegions Schleswig-Holstein 10-11 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 12-13 Bremen 14-15 Hamburg 16-17 Berlin-Brandenburg 18-19 Lower Saxony 20-21 Saxony-Anhalt 22-23 Saarland/Rhineland-Palatinate 24-25 Jena 26-27 Saxony 28-29 NRW: Bio-Gen-Tec 30 NRW: Life Science Agency 31 Münster 32-33 East Westphalia Lippe 34-35 Ruhr Region 36-37 Cologne/Düsseldorf 38-39 Aachen, Liège, Maastricht 40-41 Hesse: Hessen Biotech 42-43 Frankfurt 44-45 Marburg 46-47 Baden-Wuerttemberg: BIOPRO 48-49 Rhine-Neckar Triangle 50-51 STERN 52-53 Ulm 54-55 Freiburg 56-57 Bavaria: Bayern Innovativ 58-59 Franconia 60-61 Regensburg 62-63 Munich 64-65 Federal state organisations 2 Biotech success stories Axxima 66 Biofrontera 67 Brain 68 Cellzome 69 DeveloGen 70 Epigenomics 71 Evotec OAI 72 GPC Biotech 73 Jerini 74 MediGene 75 MorphoSys 76 Paion 77 Qiagen 78 Rentschler 79 Scienion 80 SunGene 81 Teraklin 82 Wilex 83 Interim report Interim Report on Biotechnology Funding 84-87 3 4 Foreword The life sciences will economy. This mechanism will play a major make their mark on role in structural change in the economy over the 21st century. Our the next few years. understanding of living organisms is The biotechnology regions in Germany have growing rapidly. provided an effective impetus for commercia- Scientific findings and lization. Approximately 25 bioregions with related technological just under 600 biotech companies have been developments offer a revolutionary potential established since the late 1990s, which is for change and entirely new opportunities for quite a respectable achievement from an the solution of many problems in society - international perspective. But these young from fighting diseases which have so far been businesses must mature and gain considered incurable to sustainable and technological and economic strength. And a intelligent production. Trailblazing sufficient number of new businesses must discoveries are being made in biotechnology follow so that the latest findings can be every year. Science magazine rated four included in the economic diffusion process. developments of modern bioscience among the top ten in 2003. The biosciences are a This publication provides an impressive highly complex field of technology which is overview of the development and prospects of developing very dynamically. the biotechnology regions in Germany. Their success is due not least to the mobilization of Biotechnology today is far more than a considerable public funds as well as to the means to gain fundamental knowledge - it is large amounts of private funds that have becoming a central economic factor. been made available. But this does not mean Although impressive scientific successes have that the challenge has been mastered. An been achieved over the past 25 years, the objective of Federal Government policy commercial exploitation of biotechnology is therefore continues to be to help the only just beginning throughout the world, biotechnology regions become stronger and particularly in Germany. Experts estimate partners in the commercialization of this that about 30% of all branches of industry leading technology. will depend on biotechnology in the future. Biotechnology is thus one of the largest growth areas beside information technology. Edelgard Bulmahn Biotechnological innovations will have a Federal Minister of Education and Research major influence on production in many branches including the chemical industry, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and foodstuffs, environmental and power engineering and the services sector. New, knowledge-intensive and valuable products and processes will be made available to our knowledge-based 5 Introduction BioRegions in Germany Today Germany is a modern base for and practical strategies designed. The bio- biotechnology in Europe. Following a rapid regions, which were selected by an increase in the number of business start-ups independent international jury, have over the last few years during the race to succeeded to a considerable extent in catch up internationally, Germany now holds combining a sound scientific basis, favourable first place in the field of biotechnology. legal framework conditions and an entrepre- Although the young branch began to neurial spirit. The strengthening of the strong encounter financial bottlenecks in 2003, the in the international competition for economic wave of business start-ups should not be development in biotechnology has led to a allowed to slow down. Know-how is change in trend and has made Germany a continuing to force its way into the field of beacon site for genetic engineering and applications. The young biotech companies biotechnology. The measures which have now require funding for the very long-term been introduced are attracting investors, phases of research and development before accelerating licensing procedures for biotech- they can make their first profits. In a number nological plants and their extensions, and of cases young companies need to focus more kindling entrepreneurial spirit in order to intensely on their strengths when expanding create jobs. Over a five-year period from 1997, further. the model regions „Rhineland“, „Munich“ and „Heidelberg“, which were selected from 17 Lasting impulses applicants, and „Jena“, which received a Support for willing entrepreneurs and young special award, received privileged access to biotechnology companies during and special BMBF project funding totalling A 90 following the foundation phase begins with a million. These „starting funds“ enabled the number of competitions initiated by the regions to attract considerably higher private Federal Ministry of Education and Research and public funding. (BMBF), for example BioRegio, BioProfile and BioChance. The amendment to the Law on Novel products, processes and services Genetic Engineering in 1993 and the The „BioProfile“ competition, which was launching of various competitions since the launched in November 1999 within the mid-90s have given lasting impulses to the framework of the Federal Government’s development of biotechnology in Germany. Biotechnology 2000 funding programme, carried on from the experience and results Change in trend gained from the Bio-Regio competition. The launching of the BMBF’s BioRegio „BioProfile“ was also targeted towards those competition in 1995 led to the formation of regions with excellent conditions for national and cross-border economic areas, i.a. translating biotechnological know-how into bio-regions in which integral concepts for new products, production processes and biotechnological research were developed and services. the results introduced on a commercial basis. Emphasis was placed on specialist strengths in Scientific and economic potential were individual forward-looking applications in the brought together, long-term goals defined field of modern biotechnology. These 6 strengths were to be systematically identified companies - depending on how they are and expanded. Special attention was also defined - and is now the European leader in given to applications outside the health this field. Nevertheless, impressive though this sector, e.g. plant biotechnology and nutrition. race to catch up may be, there should be no Of the original 30 applicant regions from illusions about the shortcomings regarding throughout Germany, 20 took part in the the maturity and the size of German decisive selection round. In the course of the companies. Compared with the, on average, selection procedure, the jury singled