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.
Fields of activity and business models
German biotechnology companies are concentrated mainly on the fields of health and medicine. Over 80% of all dedicated biotechnology companies are predominantly active in these areas. Approximately a fifth of the companies are concerned with animal health, a tenth is involved with industrial biotechnology and about the same proportion is active in biotechnological applications in agriculture. A large majority of the companies use nonspecific research methods, referring to the interdisciplinary nature of biotechnological research, and the numerous possibilities for its application.
Fig.1: Fields of activity of dedicated biotech companies
Source: biotechnologie.de
Source: Biotechnology company survey 2006 by biotechnologie.de
Genomic and proteomic methods represent the majority of the procedures used in German biotechnology. Moreover, half of the 480 dedicated companies works with cell and tissue-cultures. Approximately a quarter uses system-biological procedures and a fifth are operating somewhere between the frontiers of biotechnology and nano-technology.
Fig. 2: Working methods of dedicated biotech companies
Source: biotechnologie.de
Source: Biotechnology company survey 2006 by biotechnologie.de
The business models of German biotech companies account for, among other things, the employee structure: The greatest area of expertise is research (see Fig. 5). At the same time it is clear that most companies pursue several strategies alongside one another, and service, process development and production clearly make up a significant portion of all business activity.
Fig. 3: Business models of dedicated biotech companies
Source: biotechnologie.de
Source: Biotechnology company survey 2006 by biotechnologie.de