Meeting with Parliamentary State Secretary Franziska Brantner and Start-up commissioner Anna Christmann in Heidelberg, Germany.
On September 19, the working group on entrepreneurship, innovation and jobs of the biotechnology industry association BIO Deutschland e. V. met for a political exchange with Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWK), and Anna Christmann, Member of the Bundestag (both Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) in Heidelberg. Entrepreneurs from innovative biotechnology companies presented their business models at the meeting and gave recommendations for action to strengthen Germany as an internationally competitive biotech location. Another topic was the availability of venture capital for start-ups and growth capital for advanced companies that need it on their way to becoming global champions. The German government's “WIN” initiative, which was presented as part of the “StartUp Summit 2024”, is intended to mobilize this capital. A core element of the WIN initiative is the Future Financing Act II, which is intended to help improve the financing situation of companies; however, there are still significant gaps regarding closed venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds.