251 286 - Biotech Bayern

Preface
Which year symbolizes best the beginning of a modern
biotechnology industry in Bavaria?
Probably you will have to go back to the 70s of the last
century and recall the pioneering foundation of the Max
Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich
with its emphasis on molecular biology.
Or perhaps the foundation of the Gene Center Munich at
the beginning of the 80s, one of three centres in Germany
devoting themselves quite exclusively to genetic research?
It was also around this time that the subject of genetic
engineering got included in Bavarian biology textbooks,
thus familiarising teachers and pupils for the first time
with the basics, possibilities and risks of the use of genetic
engineering and biotechnology. Parallel to this, an application-oriented
programme of teacher training was already
being developed to transport the completely new laboratory
techniques required for molecular biology work into education
and training. After a while these were even literally
transported, for example, with the first biotech lab on
wheels, the Biotech-Mobil, which from 1996 onwards visited
all Bavarian schools. From very early on, this helped to
create a basic understanding of molecular biology among
the population at large, and it also helped to promote an
objective discussion about the chances and risks involved.
By the end of the 80s, this ambience of progressive research
institutions and a Bavarian population that was open to
innovations resulted in the first companies being established
in Southern Bavaria, a trend which by 1996 had already led
to the foundation of around 30 biotechnology companies in
the Munich region. Another major boost was certainly
caused by Munich-Martinsried winning the federal BioRegio
Competition in 1996. But also the Regensburg location
profited with lasting effect from participating in the
competition. In the following years Munich grew into one
of the most important Biotech Clusters in Europe.
An evaluation study by the Kiel Institute for the World
Economy (IfW) confirms that the Munich region has undergone
an “exemplary development”. But even if Bavaria's
South is often the centre of attention of national and inter-
national observers, the Regensburg and Würzburg locations
have nevertheless – or even because of this – also developed
in a consistent and remarkable manner.
In this report we therefore quite deliberately consider development
of Bavaria as a biotechnology location as a whole,
based on a detailed survey of all companies in the region.
We made a distinction between sector-specific parameters
and therefore carried out separate surveys for pharmaceutical
companies, contract research organisations (CROs) and
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the biotechnology
sector.
The data forming the basis of this report are based on the
evaluation of a written survey carried out by BioM Biotech
Cluster Development GmbH at the beginning of 2008 of
approx. 250 Life Science companies throughout Bavaria.
Based on the questionnaires returned and intensive followup
telephone calls it was possible to achieve a response rate
of almost 80 %.
Additional information was obtained by further individual
inquiries. Possible deviations from previously published
figures are the result of additional data obtained in this
survey that also refer to the previous year.
The period under review for this report is the year 2007.
Sales figures, some of which were only published in March
2008, also relate exclusively to this period. Data used in this
report that are not a result of the survey come from other
sources that are mentioned separately on the respective
pages.
Guest articles from research and industry as well as profiles
of the locations Würzburg, Regensburg, Straubing and
Munich-Martinsried supplement the overview of the
Bavarian Biotechnology Cluster. A detailed description of
Bavaria's Life Science companies provides the reader with all
necessary information about the scope of business and
contact data. We thank all authors and the companies for
their contribution.
March 2008
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