July 2009

Peer Steinbrück Visits BIO Deutschland Member Qiagen

The German Federal Finance Minister, Peer Steinbrück, visited the headquarters of BIO Deutschland member Qiagen in Hilden at the end of July. On this occasion, Qiagen’s CEO, Peer Schatz, and CFO, Roland Sackers, were able to raise the topic of BIO Deutschland’s stance on various matters.

During a discussion lasting almost 45 minutes, views were exchanged on both industry/innovation location-specific topics and on industrial policy issues concerning the further development of biotechnology in Germany. Peer Schatz and Roland Sackers pointed out the disadvantages resulting from limited use of loss carry forward from research expenditure that are particularly relevant to technological companies. They explained that it was not uncommon for the long development phases until market launch to involve loss carry forward. The directors of Qiagen believe that this situation is a location disadvantage to Germany, especially for innovative companies. The existing regulation thus harms the development of the branch and in the long term damages the creation of new jobs in one of the most promising economic sectors in the country. In their discussion with Peer Steinbrück, Peer Schatz and Roland Sackers expressed the view that this is even more unfortunate as other important parameters in Germany – from the standard of training to a well-linked research environment and transport infrastructure – are certainly competitive on the international level.

Peer Steinbrück accepted these and other views and in a press conference held after the discussion explained that the future belongs to companies like Qiagen, which are specialised in biotechnology, microelectronics or nanotechnology. The Minister agreed to be quoted in the media as follows: "On an international level, Germany must make more efforts as regards setting up new companies. And the taxation conditions also need to be improved."

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