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High-Tech Strategy provides new impetus
Biotechnology has become the basis and driver of many applications in medicine, in the food and feeds industry and in the chemical industry. It is, for example, used in the production of medical drugs, for new diagnosis and therapy concepts, the production of fine chemicals, wastewater treatment processes or energy production from biomass. New impetus is also provided by the biotechnology initiatives of the High-Tech Strategy. The focus is on fields of application of white, red and green biotechnology.
White or industrial biotechnology deals with the production of chemical base materials and end products. Biotechnology processes in medical applications, such as the development of new medical drugs, are called red biotechnology. Green or plant biotechnology is used to produce plants that are better nutrient producers or renewable resources. Black biotechnology is already being discussed. It uses microorganisms as energy suppliers. Black symbolizes the still predominant energy sources of oil and coal.
Biotechnology industry: Germany is European leader
With almost 600 biotechnology companies (500 companies that do biotechnology only and 100 other companies that are active in biotechnology among other fields), Germany is today European leader - a development triggered by the BioRegio competition of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in 1995. There are many indications that these companies will hold their own against the international competition in the long term. Turnover increased to two billion euros between 2005 and 2007 (plus 30 percent), the number of employees to 29,500 (plus 24 percent between 2005 and 2007). At the same time, expenditure on research and development has reached the one billion euro threshold for the first time. In 2007, 21 German biotechnology companies were listed at the stock exchange. Germany thus ranks second in Europe, after Great Britain. Over 40 percent of the companies focus on health products (red biotechnology). With almost 8 percent, relatively few companies work in the field of white or industrial biotechnology at present. Biotechnology processes account for about 5 percent of the overall turnover in the chemical industry and for about 15 percent of the overall turnover of the pharmaceuticals industry.
Change-over to biotechnology processes in industrial production
The change-over to biotechnology processes in industrial production is likely to gather momentum in future. According to forecasts, turnover in industrial biotechnology will increase from 50 billion euros today to about 300 billion euros within ten years. Industrial biotechnology holds enormous potential for the establishment of energy and resource-conserving, and thus environmentally friendly, processes. The same applies to the production of substances using living organisms, enzymes or other organic production systems. This will replace traditional chemical processes or facilitate the production of substances which can not yet be produced synthetically. Such substances are base materials for the pharmaceuticals and chemical industries, the food industry and in textile, leather and paper production.
In order for ideas and research results of industrial biotechnology to be translated more rapidly into marketable products, the BioIndustry 2021 initiative supports strategic partnerships between science and industry. Funds provided by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to the amount of 60 million euros until 2011 will mobilize another 90 million euros on the part of industry and additional measures in the host Länder. Five companies have already been established as spin-offs of the BMBF-funded BioIndustrie2021 clusters; further spin-offs will follow.
With the KMU-innovativ initiative ("Innovative SMEs: Biotechnology - BioChance"), which aims to promote technology transfer, and the "GO-Bio" measure, which is aimed at validation and at start-ups, as well as the BioPharma competition, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research is making a decisive contribution to continuing the success story of German biotechnology.
Project Example:
Clean laundry at low temperatures
With the help of innovative industrial biotechnology, novel materials from nature can be provided for use in industrial production, which can relieve the burden on the environment, for example enzymes in detergents. Within the framework of a BMBF-funded project, Brain AG in Zwingenberg near Darmstadt identified novel enzymes which are active at 40 degree instead of 60 degree centigrade when used in detergents. In Germany alone, about one million tons of carbon dioxide could be saved each year. Dr. Holger Zinke, founder and CEO of Brain AG, was awarded the Environment Award 2008 for his work on white biotechnology.
Plants with improved or novel characteristics
Plant biotechnology has a long tradition in Germany: Fundamental discoveries were already made in the early 1980s. Priorities of research and development are the breeding of plants with improved or novel characteristics. While constantly monitoring biosafety (biological safety research), plants are being developed which, due to their active agents, are particularly valuable for food and feed, better tolerate adverse climate conditions, can be used as renewable resources for industrial and bioenergetic production cycles, or for the production of pharmaceutical agents ("pharming"). German plant biotechnology holds a top position in Europe, not least because of intensive BMBF funding and a strong increase in industry involvement in research projects.
Project Example:
Modern plant breeds for drought-resistant barley
Novel high-yield barley lines with better grain quality under drought stress are to be bred under the BMBF-funded GABI-GRAIN project. Drought is a massive problem for the cultivation of plants. Climate change will lead to scarcer water resources worldwide and to faster desertification in certain regions. This means that ever less water will be available for agriculture. Two seed companies cooperate in this project with research institutions and Hochschule Halle-Wittenberg.
The use of genetically modified plants which are resistant to pests is regulated by law in the EU. The Federal Government supports the further development of these provisions and procedures with a view to promoting innovative research, while maintaining the present high level of protection. Particular attention is paid to the continued use of independent scientific evaluation as the main basis for certification decisions.
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