BIO Deutschland Board Members Meet Bundestag Members in Berlin

At the beginning of May, BIO Deutschland board members Peter Heinrich and Jan Schmidt-Brand met members of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and Liberal (FDP) Bundestag parliamentary groups. They discussed the association’s suggestions on improving the parameters for innovative small and medium-sized biotechnology enterprises (SMEs). Detailed discussion included topics such as the willingness to make progress and barriers in the fields of funding and innovation; loss carry-forward; the current tax discrimination against SMEs as compared with other industries; and the meaning of the introduction of tax credits for expenditure on research and development. In this context, BIO Deutschland pointed out that some of these barriers do not exist in other EU countries – or not to the same extent as in Germany – and that this creates a clear competitive disadvantage for German biotech companies.