German Biotechnology Days 2025 - Heidelberg becomes the hotspot of the biotech industry for two days

In bright sunshine and spring-like temperatures, around 1100 participants met at the German Biotechnology Days at the new Heidelberg Congress Center. The spacious and light-flooded rooms offered space for 77 exhibitors, parallel presentations, and discussions as well as countless bilateral talks.

The opening session focused on the excellence of Heidelberg as a life science location, but also on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the industry in view of the unpredictable changes in the USA. Many of which could or will have an impact on the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Oliver Schacht, Chairman of the Board of BIO Deutschland, emphasized in his speech that we must see the situation in the USA as a strategic opportunity and must seize it in order to sustainably strengthen Germany and Europe as a location for science and research, in the long term. For Germany, he called for the transfer of research results, and the translation of it into innovation and commercial product development. The Mayor of Heidelberg also addressed the current developments in science and research in his welcoming speech, while promoting Heidelberg as a location, as did Julia Schaft, Managing Director of the regional host bioRN (Life Science Cluster Rhine-Neckar). All emphasized the importance of a welcoming culture for international researchers.

In his keynote speech, Helmut Winterling (President Group Research BASF) gave an overview of his company's activities in the field of industrial (white) biotechnology. Explaining how BASF uses biotechnology not as the only key, but as a part of the path to revolutionizing the chemical industry. He was followed in the program by Kerstin Göpfrich (Professor at the Center for Molecular Biology at the University of Heidelberg) who gave an inspiring lecture on “RNA origami” for artificial cells.

The second day was opened by Claudia Fleischer (Managing Director of Roche Diagnostics GmbH). She emphasized in her keynote speech “Innovationsschub Made in Germany?,” that health is the basis for prosperity and growth. Because investments in healthcare, diagnostic and therapeutic solutions are strategic investments to promote future economic growth. With every euro that is invested in healthcare bringing 2 to 4 euros in economic return, according to Fleischer. She also emphasized that in the last century around a third of the economic growth in industrialized countries was due to an improvement in the health of the world's population.

Jens Holstein (CFO of BioNTech) then spoke about the success factors for a biotech company dedicated to the development of therapies. In addition to sufficient risk capital he mentioned the “courage to take risks”, “setting priorities, creating synergies”, and “speed.” With this he appealed to the masses to find innovative paths in the new era of medicine.

The rest of the program covered the entire range of research and development made possible by the biotechnology platform technology. Whether research into organ replacement or cell therapies, new modalities, novel food, longevity, diagnostics or enzyme optimization and scale-up. Venture capital, partnerships between pharma and biotech and regulation at European level were also intensively discussed. The symposia, which provided a stage for pre-seed projects and young start-ups, were particularly popular. The Bioregions Innovation Prize was awarded to three teams: the team from Lumatix Biotech for light-controlled antibody purification, to Sweethoven Biotech, a project that turns natural sugars into health-promoting sweet alternatives, and the project “Ymolution - The Antibody Revolution” project, which enables efficient and cost-effective antibody production. The audience award went to Panosome GmbH, a spin-off from the German Cancer Research Center.

At the “New Kids on the Block” start-up symposia, Sweethoven Biotech also won the audience award in the “Industrial Biotech” category, while Avocet Biosciences impressed the most in the “Medical Biotech” category. The winners each received a ticket to the next editions of the European Chemistry Partnering 2026 in Frankfurt am Main and the Bio-Europe Spring 2025 in Vienna.

The successful “German Biotech Days” were offered in English for the first time and were rounded off by a glittering evening event #GeileParty, where people danced and celebrated late into the night.

Impressions of the #DBT2025 can be found here: www.german-biotech.day/blog/event-gallery.html

The German Biotechnology Days are organized annually by BIO Deutschland and the working group of the Bioregions. The host bioregion in Heidelberg was bioRN, the Biopharma Cluster South Germany supported the event as a partner region.

The event was supported by the following platinum sponsors: Boehringer Ingelheim, EBD Group, Innovation Triology, Miltenyi Biotec, Mittelstand Global/Exportinitiative Gesundheitswirtschaft, QIAGEN, Rentschler Biopharma, Roche, spm2 safety projects and more, Heidelberg Technology Park and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

The next German Biotech Days will take place on April 21 and 22, 2026 in Leipzig.