Trends in the German biotechnology sector in 2025

More jobs and investment in German biotechnology

The annual trend survey conducted by the biotechnology industry association, BIO Deutschland e. V., shows that companies are assessing their current and future situation slightly better than in the previous year. The indices for the current and future business situation, the current political climate, future investments in research and development (R&D) and the employment situation are rising or remain largely the same. Only the assessment of the future political climate fell slightly compared to last year's survey.

BIO Deutschland has been conducting the trend survey at the turn of each year since 2006. The index is compiled in the same way as the ifo index. Following last year's significant drop in the indices for the assessment of the current business situation, the current political climate, the employment situation and investments in R&D, the general mood appears to be improving again. However, the indices are significantly lower overall than at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

The evaluation of the survey is based on the responses of 153 companies, the majority of which are active in the field of medical biotechnology. 40 precent are in the diagnostics and medical research services sector, 26 % in the development of therapies, 14 % in non-specific services, 7 % in industrial (white) biotechnology and 14% in other applications.

Around 20 % describe their current business situation as poor, 33 % as good. A look into the coming year shows that around 16% expect their business situation to deteriorate, while 37 % believe it will improve. Around half of the companies are planning to hire new staff, while 14 % intend to reduce their workforce. 42% intend to increase R&D investments, which is around 8% more than in the previous year. The current political climate for biotechnology is considered satisfactory by 58 %, poor by 31 % and good by only 11 %. 26 % believe the political climate will improve, while 15 % think it will deteriorate. A comparison of the responses from the two largest groups, diagnostics/services for medical biotechnology and therapy development, reveals that the service sector has a slightly more positive outlook: The service sector is slightly more positive about the coming year than the therapy developers.

Oliver Schacht, CEO of BIO Deutschland, says: “After the challenging years of 2023 and 2024, the mood in our industry now seems to have stabilized and even improved significantly in some areas. The positive trend reversal that emerged last year has continued. The biotechnology sector is very diverse and depending on their business model companies face different challenges, e.g. high energy costs, excessive bureaucracy, global economic slowdown and declining orders or availability of venture capital. However, the biotechnology sector continues to have enormous growth potential and offers highly qualified jobs. Our next government should therefore finally make biotechnology a priority so that we can continue to keep pace with global competition in the future, because biotechnology is a strategic cross-sectional technology.”

Viola Bronsema, Managing Director of BIO Deutschland, adds: “The Ampel government has provided some impetus and initiated measures and legislative projects that are important for our industry, such as the start-up strategy, the resumption of the GO-Bio start-up funding program, the draft for a law about regulatory sandboxes and, most recently, the WIN initiative. These should definitely be driven forward or significantly expanded by the next government. We would like to see more commitment in other areas, especially in European projects and legislative initiatives. Biotechnology is a key sector for Germany and makes a major contribution to value creation in many areas, but especially in the industrial healthcare sector and the industrial bioeconomy.”