251 286 - Biotech Bayern

20
Endurance and stamina:
Biotech entrepreneurs are creating a very special pool of talent
and innovation
DR. VIOLA BRONSEMA
BIO Deutschland, Berlin
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who invest in
innovation also create high-quality jobs. An analysis
conducted by the KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau)
shows that investments in research and development are
the mainspring for the creation of new jobs: young, innovative
and research-oriented SMEs especially are the
central force behind an active structural change that will
secure a national economy's long-term competitiveness.
While employment figures, for example in the German
pharmaceutical industry, are falling (minus 1% in 2007), the
number of jobs created in the field of biotechnology is
constantly increasing. In 2006, SMEs showed a growth of
nine percent 1 . After increases in previous years, approximately
three quarters (72%) of small and medium-sized biotechnology
companies are once again planning to employ
further staff in 2008 2 . According to details provided by the
pharmaceutical industry itself, it will slightly reduce the
number of jobs, probably by -1.5% in 2008 3 .
A meta-analysis by the Institute for the Study of Labour
(Institut für die Zukunft der Arbeit – IZA) revealed that innovative
SMEs provide not only jobs, but also innovations that
are superior, not in quantity, but in quality, to those of big
industry. According to the findings of a survey conducted by
the BIO Deutschland trade association, however, investments
by this sector in research and development (R & D)
will grow less strongly than in the previous year: For 2007 at
least 56% of the companies planned to increase their invest-
ments in this field; in the current year of 2008 their number
will amount to only 47% 4 .
Even so, it is important not to ease up: the preconditions for
innovation have never been better than they are today.
Worldwide, around four million people work in research and
development 5 . Of these, more than 80 percent live in the
“highly-developed” countries (40% USA, 26% EU, 15%
Japan). The number of research workers in science-driven
post-industrial societies lies between eight and nine per
thousand active employees. In Germany, it is only around
seven. This clearly shows the course that Germany, a country
poor in resources, needs to take.
Innovative entrepreneurs in the biotechnology sector want
to be part of this. They seem quite undaunted by the fact
that they will need stamina and endurance to achieve this
aim: the overwhelming majority of the biotech companies
that took part in the survey said that their current business
situation was “good” (61%). A third of the companies
regarded their own situation as “satisfactory”. A majority
of the companies also saw their medium-term future in a
positive light: 55% expect their own situation to develop
well.
Even so, the assessment of the business climate, that is, of
the political, economic and social conditions, is not as
favourable as it was last year: most of the German companies
regard it as “satisfactory” (56%), 16% as “bad” and only
28% as “good”. This means that the number of dissatisfied
companies doubled in comparison to last year. In the
current survey, only 43% believe that the general conditions
will improve, as compared with 54% last year. On the other
hand, the percentage of those who expect that the business
climate will not change in future increased by 10 percentage
points to 50%.
The trade association of the biotechnology industry in
Germany, BIO Deutschland, interprets this as a clear indication
of the pressing need for further significant improvements
in the framework conditions for SMEs in Germany. In
its first report, published at the end of February, the
Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation
(Expertenkommission Forschung und Innovation) confirms
this view. Federal Government experts make it clear that the