Statistics
German Biotechnology in 2005
Just two decades ago, biotechnology in was taking its first developmental steps in the marketplace. Today, it is firmly established as a commercial branch. This is the picture emerging from the recent national biotechnology survey, taking in biotech companies of all sizes from across , and carried out by biotechnologie.de on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). For the first time in this sector, the data complies with statistical standards as set by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), allowing for a reliable and internationally comparable description of the German biotech landscape.
Employment numbers and size structure
Altogether, approximately 24,000 people are employed in the sector of commercial biotechnology. Of these, approximately 13,000 are working within the 480 dedicated biotech enterprises. Under half of these employees (45%) have university-level qualifications.
Table 1: Employment figures within commercial biotechnology in in 2005
| Number employed in dedicated biotech companies | 12.973 |
| Number employed in innovative biotechnology companies which are involved in biotechnology | 10.856 |
| Total number of employees in commercial biotechnology | 23.829 |
The number of employees in individual companies shows that small companies, make up the greater part of the German biotech industry. Over 88% of the companies employ less than 50. Scarcely 48% have between 10 and 49 employees, a large portion of 40% have only 1 to 9 employees. 7% of all enterprises employ between 50 and 99. Only 4.5% of the 480 dedicated biotech enterprises have more than 100 employees and only 1% employ more than 249.
Fig. 1: Size structure of dedicated biotech companies
Source: biotechnologie.de
Source: Biotechnology company survey 2006 by biotechnologie.de