Statistics
Biotechnology Company Survey 2009
The economic crisis hasn't yet reached the German biotechnology sector. These are the results of the biotechnology company survey 2009, which was conducted by biotechnologie.de on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF).
Methodology and definitions
In December 2004, the OECD standardised the huge range of existing definitions of the term biotechnology. Since then, all OECD countries have been called upon to carry out surveys on biotechnology, following the so-called Framework for Biotechnology Statistics (www.oecd.org).
The OECD recognises two different categories of companies within the biotech industry: dedicated biotechnology company and other biotechnologically active companies. The first of these definitions, according to the OECD, applies to biotechnologically active enterprises, whose core company goals are the application of biotechnological procedures in the manufacturing of products, the supply of services or in the execution of biotechnological research and development.
Unlike the dedicated biotech companies, the central aims of other biotechnologically active companies do not exclusively lie in the application of biotechnological procedures. The OECD thereby also includes in this category companies where biotechnology makes up only one part of the business activity. Companies are defined as biotechnologically active companies if they use biotechnological procedures for recently developed or significantly improved products or production processes. The central company aims must not be solely in the use of biotechnological procedures for the production of products, the supply of services or in the execution of biotechnological research and development. Examples of such companies are pharma firms, chemical companies or seed manufacturers.
OECD-definitions:
| Biotechnology.... | ... is defined as a biotechnology active firm whose predominant activity involves the application of biotechnology techniques to produce goods or services and/or the performance of biotechnology R&D. |
| A dedicated biotechnology firm... | ... is defined as a biotechnology active firm whose predominant activity involves the application of biotechnology techniques to produce goods or services and/or the performance of biotechnology R&D. |
| An other biotechnologically active firm... | ... is defined as a biotechnologically active firm that applies biotechnology techniques for the purpose of implementing new or significantly improved products or processes (per the Oslo Manual (OECD, 1997) for the measurement of innovation). It excludes end users which innovate simply by using biotechnology products as intermediate inputs (for instance, detergent manufacturers which change their formulation to include enzymes produced by other firms via biotechnology techniques). |
Definition areas of activity:
| Health/Medicine | Development of therapeutics and/or diagnostics for the field of human medicine, drug delivery, human tissue replacement |
| Animal health | As above, for veterinary application |
| Agrobiotechnology | Genetically modified plants, animals or microorganisms, as well as non-genetically modified plants grown using biotechnological procedures, for use in agriculture or forestry |
| Industrial biotechnology | Biotechnological products and processes for the handling of waste or sewage, for chemical synthesis, for the extraction of raw materials and energy etc. |
| Non-specific application | Equipment or reagents based on biotechnological principles, for research or provision of services in this field (“ancillary industry”) |
Further relevant terms:
| Biotechnology product | ... is defined as a good or service, the development of which requires the use of one or more biotechnology techniques based on the list and single definitions above. It includes knowledge products (technical know-how) generated from biotechnology R&D. |
| Biotechnology process | ... is defined as a production or other (e.g. environmental) process using one or more biotechnology techniques or products. |
| Biotechnology research and experimental de-velopment (R&D) | ... are defined as R&D into biotechnology techniques, biotechnology products or biotechnology processes, in accordance with both the biotechnology definitions presented above and the Frascati Manual for the measurement of R&D (OECD, 2002). |
| Biotechnology employment | ... is defined as the employment involved in the generation of biotechnology products as defined above. For ease of collection, it is suggested that employment be measured in terms of staff numbers rather than hours worked. However, where countries prefer, they can collect this information in terms of full-time equivalents, consistent with an R&D survey approach (as outlined in the Frascati Manual). |
Data basis of the survey
For the purposes of this survey, biotechnologie.de has compiled a questionnaire, which is based on the OECD definition as described above. Between January and April 2009, a total of 666 companies were contacted and requested to complete the survey. When deciding on the company selection, the OECD definition was used alongside an adjustment with the company database at BIOCOM AG. 567 of the companies answered either by questionnaire or by telephone, corresponding to a verification rate of 85%.
In accordance with the OECD guidelines, while selecting companies to participate, extreme care was taken to include all enterprises which are resident in Germany and which are active in biotechnology. Therefore, companies that are majority owned from outside Germany but have a company office with R&D activities in Germany were also considered. In surveying the employee figures, number of companies and fields of activity, the survey included only the German locations of a company. If an enterprise had more than one location in Germany, only cumulated figures and data for the company as a whole were considered. The deadline for completion of the survey was 31.12.2008.