Germany

 

Download the country report in pdf

Send your contribution / modification to


Introduction

Biotechnology will be an important pillar of Europe’s economy by 2030, indispensable to sustainable economic growth, employment, energy supply and to maintaining a high standard of living. It will be increasingly used in labour-intensive sectors, e.g. industrial processing, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and food. By 2030, the products of white biotechnology and bioenergy will have an estimated one-third share, worth €300bn, of industrial production.
Biotechnology is expected to help meet the most urgent global challenges – growing and ageing populations, limited resources of raw materials, energy and water, the threat of global warming – by facilitating the development of a sustainable economy built on biobased industrial processes.
Germany, host to the headquarters of leading global corporations including BASF, Bayer, and Evonik, is one of Europe’s most important players in the field of industrial biotechnology.
Germany is home to some 500 biotech companies. Eighty-three percent of them operate in the health/medicine fields ('red” biotechnology), 19 percent in the animal health field, ten percent in agriculture ('green” biotechnology) and 13 percent in the area of industrial applications ('white” biotechnology) (in these statistics, companies could be assigned to more than one category). The economic sectors where biotech processes and products are or could be of relevance accounted for some 14 percent of Germany's GDP and 17 percent of all jobs in 2003.



I. Research and Innovation

Modern industrial biotechnology is a relatively new discipline, with major areas of knowledge still to be explored. Public support to research as well as the establishment of pilot and demonstration facilities to scale-up individual processes will therefore help in the development of a European bio-based economy.


A. Public research funding

The BMBF - Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the FZJ - Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH and Sächsisches - Staatsministerium für Umwelt und Landwirtschaft are members as partner of the European Network Area on Industrial biotechnology (ERA-net IB)

The FNR - Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. and the DBU - Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt are members of ERA-net IB as observer.

The Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR) runs a Renewable Resources programme which supports research in the field of renewable resources, bioenergy, renewable raw materials, bio-based products, industrial biotechnology and biofuels. Projects are selected via open calls. The overall yearly budget is €50 million, totally financed by the federal Governement.

Major sources of funding for biotechnology research in Germany are :

  • German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
  • German Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology (BMWi)
  • German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Consumer Protection (BMELV)
  • German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
  • German Federal Trust Fund on Environment (DBU)
  • German Research Foundation (DFG)
  • German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
  • Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
  • Foundation for Industrial Research
  • Trust Association for German Science
  • Fritz Thyssen Foundation
  • Robert Bosch Foundation
  • Koerber Foundation
  • Klaus Tschira Foundation (KTS)
  • Schering Foundation
  • Volkswagen Foundation
  • Peter and Traudl Engelhorn Foundation
  • German-Israeli Foundation of Scientific Research and Development (GIF)

B. Pilot and demonstration plants

A descriptive list of pilot and demonstration plants in Germany is available here.


II. Policy

Public authorities can promote the quick take-up of industrial biotechnology innovations by implementing a number of “instruments” or policy initiatives. This can be the improvement of the regulatory framework; the integration of specification for bio-based products in public procurement; the establishment of standardisation, labelling and certification schemes to overcome perceived uncertainty about product properties and weak market transparency; the development of financial instruments and supports to increase investments into research, technology development and innovation as well as the elaboration of communication and information campaign to communicate the benefits of bio-based products to users.


A. Policies and regulations

The High-Tech Strategy for Germany was developed in 2007 through a joint effort by all federal government departments. The strategy aims to create a climate where ideas can be “ignited” and where research results can be translated into products, processes and services. The High-Tech Strategy defines 17 fields with the objective of improving the cooperation between science and industry as well as accelerating direct application of research findings. Biotechnology has been identified as one of the 17 key sectors where Germany wants to create lead markets.

The German government aims to put Germany as a biotech location at the top of the European rankings not only in terms of the number of biotech firms but also when measured by turnover and jobs. Thus, the German Government has identified industrial biotechnology as an opportunity for developement.

In order for biotechnology policies to succeed, it is necessary to discuss the opportunities that biotechnology has to offer. To help, in 2007 the Gernman government published a brochure on White Biotech - Weiße Biotechnologie. The brochure shows concrete examples of white biotech applications (enzymes, nutraceuticals, textile industry…).


B. Public procurement

Green procurement exclusively applies to public authorities.

The establishment of a specific national action plan regarding public procurement programmes for bio-based products is currently not an issue in the Government administration.

Industry associations cannot submit plans to propose the establishment of green procurement for public authorities.


C. Standardisation, labelling and certification

Der blaue Engel was created in 1978 on the initiative of the Federal Minister of the Interior and approved by the Ministers of the Environment of the national government and the federal states. It was designed as an instrument of environmental policy which would harmonise with the market and enable the positive features of products and services to be labelled on a voluntary basis. It set the standard for eco-friendly products and services selected by an independent jury in line with defined criteria.

The label does not communicate specific biobased properties / qualities or eco-friendliness of a product. It is just the “lesser evil” – meaning its properties are less pollutive than the properties of comparable products.

The spectrum of the Blue Angel’s activities is continuously extended and new products and services are eco-labelled. Today, about 10.000 products and services in 80 product categories carry the Blue Angel eco-label.


D. Access to finance

The most prominent current funding program in the field of IB is called “BioIndustrie 2021”. BioIndustrie 2021 runs from 2006 to 2011 and has a budget of €60 million. Additional funding from industrial partners will supplement the total funding volume for research and development projects to more than €150 million. The objective is to bring ideas and research results in the field of white biotechnology faster from universities and research institutes to the market. These funds will be channelled mainly through the new BioIndustrie 2021 cluster competition

Biodindustrie 2021 cluster competition: In order to better advance this field of research and business in Germany, the Federal Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF) began the BioIndustrie 2021 cluster competition in the autumn of 2006. €60 million of funding - to be spread over five years - has been made available for this initiative (see above).

The definitive goal of the BioIndustrie 2021 competition is to consolidate essential institutions and disciplines (e.g. Process engineering, machine and equipment construction, process and control engineering, analytics) into interdisciplinary project teams, both efficiently and at an early stage. Strategic clusters that integrate all parties in a network structure are anticipated to emerge within the framework of the competition. Included in this vision are research institutions, private companies, venture capitalists and banks, which will be cooperating to define their core competencies, develop forms of financing and strategies for future markets, and implement appropriate projects in their common interests.

Winners of this competition are:

BioChancePlus is a financial instrument through which the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) is supporting the high-risk development of young biotech companies. The BMBF programme makes available €100 million in project funds. Together with a further €150 million in private capital, this is to encourage in particular cooperation and networking between companies. The aid is specifically aimed at helping spin-offs and start-ups establish themselves for the purpose of bringing new biotechnology products to market.

GO-Bio. With this programme, biotech research teams with a good business plan can qualify for support from the BMBF’s GO-Bio fund. The fund is making €150 million available over the next ten years and should help researchers to take their brainstorms from the laboratory to the marketplace.

The High-Tech Strategy for Germany allocates €430 million to biotechnology for the period 2006-2009. The Biotechnologie 2021 cluster competition was one of the initiatives initiated in the framework of the strategy. Moreover, dueto the strong response, additional funding has been provided for the BioChancePlus funding initiative since 2007.

In addition to the Government funding, BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens, Daimler¬Chrysler, Carl Zeiss and Robert Bosch have formed a partnership with the federal government and the KfW development bank to provide venture capital funding for tech-sector start ups. The High-Tech Gründerfonds is directed at “young high-opportunity technological companies implementing promising research results in an entrepreneurial manner” – including biotech companies. In addition to providing €272 million in venture capital funding, the program provides young start-ups with managerial supervision.

SusChem-D is working on such projects – German Industry Associations like DECHEMA/VBU and VCI/DIB are involved. This year SusChem-D focussed on nine subjects:

    1. Energy efficient life and living

    2. Efficient use of heat from industrial processes

    3. Energy for mobility

    4. Sustainable mobility

    5. Resource efficient chemical production

    6. Environmental friendly production processes

    7. Use of renewable raw materials for materials

    8. Material use of renewable raw materials for the chemical industry

    9. Protection of climate

German Industry Associations like VCI/DIB, BIO Deutschland, and DECHEMA/VBU are in negotiations with different government departments regarding bio-based products research, investment, etc. Many political debates and public discussions focus currently on which business environment and which corporate tax structure could foster investment in research and innovation best.


E. Communication

There is a common initiative from the chemical industry together with their trade associations VCI/DIB, DECHEMA/VBU, BIO Deutschland, research institutions and the chemical union, called German Platform for White Biotechnology (Deutsche Plattform Weiße Biotechnlogie – DPWB) who communicates general benefits of biotech product groups and improvements regarding regulation, market incentives, research, etc. to the general public and the politicians.



Main Sources

German Association of Biotechnology Industry - VCI/DIB
DECHEMA/VBU
BioDeutschland
Biotechnologie.de
German KBBE-net delegate