North Rhine-Westphalia the economic heart of Germany

Norh Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is Germany's number one economic region earning 22% of the national GDP. NRW has also the highest population of the 16 German states. Concentrated on an area of the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined 18 million people live in Germany's most densely populated state with major metropolitan areas in the Ruhr in the Rhein valleys.

Large internationally renowned companies like Bayer, Henkel, e-on, RWE, Krupp-Thyssen and Ford operate from here. The chemical industry is NRW's top earner with an annual turnover of US $43 billion Dollars and 40% of the countries international shows and trade fares take place here.

NRW's economic strength is based on an excellent innovation climate stimulated by the intense exchange of knowledge between industry and research. Young companies in attractive sectors with innovative technologies are facing up towards the challenges of new markets. Whether it is biotechnology, medical technology, chemistry, telecommunications, new media or logistics - these future sectors have a permanent home in NRW which offers a unique advantage: its university and research network.

The densest university & research network in Europe

This unique network in NRW is made up of:

  • 53 universities and technical colleges with about 500.000 students enrolled (among them 6 of Germany's 12 biggest universities: Aachen, Bochum, Bonn, Köln, Münster, Düsseldorf).

  • 21 Max-Planck Institutes, Fraunhofer Institutes and National Research Centers in Jülich (FZJ), Köln (DLR) and Bonn (GMD).

  • 32 research institutes with regular (“institutional”) grants from the government.

  • 58 special research networks (Sonderforschungsbereiche) funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

  • 68 technology centres / incubators.

  • 27 technology transfer offices

This university and research network is characterised by a strong focus on the life sciences. Eight medical faculties in Aachen, Bochum, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Essen, Köln, Münster, Herdecke - each with access to large numbers of patients in the university hospitals - are engaged in research covering the whole medical spectrum. Twelve medical Sonderforschungsbereiche and three of Germany's eight Interdisciplinary Centres for Clinical Research (IZKF) -the ZMMK Centre for Molecular Medicine in Köln, the BIOMAT Centre for biomaterials in Aachen and the IZKF in Münster - are located in NRW. Eight faculties for biology (Aachen, Bielefeld, Bochum, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Essen, Köln and Münster) with several Sonderforschungsbereiche, the two Institutes for Biotechnology in Jülich, the two Max-Planck- Institutes for Plant Breeding research and for Neurological Research in Köln, the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Physiology in Dortmund, the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biotechnology in Aachen, the Institute for Chemo- and Biosensors in Münster and many more prove the strong focus on life science research in NRW.

Welcome to Germany's bio-boom welcome to BIORIVER

Life science research in Germany - and especially in NRW - traditionally has an excellent position. However the exploitation of the results of life science research - e.g. the number of patents or the number of spin-off biotech companies based on these results - was also relatively low compared to the USA or the UK.

At that time Germany decided to become the European leader in biotechnology. The objective was ambitious and many had their doubts at that time - but today it has become reality: looking at the number of biotech start-ups, Germany is now considered to hold the number one slot in Europe. An unprecedented and ongoing boost in biotech start-ups began in 1996 when the federal government called for proposals for the BioRegio competition. DM 50million were granted to each of the three regions in Germany with the most promising potential to build up internationally competitive biotech clusters.

The Cologne-Aachen-Düsseldorf region in NRW applied for this grant and won against 17 other competitors. The main reasons for this success are obvious:

  • The excellent research network - as outlined above - with the biggest concentration along the river Rhein (including Germany's biggest technical university, Aachen, Germany's biggest university, Köln, with the famous Institute for Genetics, with the Max-Planck- Institute for plant breeding research in Köln, the Research Center Jülich (FZJ) and the University of Düsseldorf, whose biotech spin-offs (e.g. QIAGEN, RHEINBIOTECH, NEWLAB, CARDION) earn more than 50% of the total turnover of all biotech spin-offs from German universities.

  • The existing backbone of well established pharmaceutical/chemical industry (e.g. Bayer, Henkel, Schwarz Pharma, Grünenthal, Rhone Poulenc Rorer, Madaus) along the river Rhein.

  • Strong support from the state government and the participating cities, esp. Cologne.

  • The efficient network structure (financing/consulting/coaching networks) included in the BioRegio proposal.

The concept for this BioRegio proposal had been prepared by Bio-Gen-Tec-NRW the state initiative founded in 1994 which concentrates initiatives from science, business and politics thus laying the foundation for an internationally competitive biotech location. The headquarters of Bio-Gen-Tec-NRW in Cologne is located on the river Rhein, too. Since then this region along the river Rhein between Cologne and Düsseldorf has experienced a boost in biotech start-ups. 52 of the 75 company start-ups and expansions, which were accompanied by Bio-Gen-Tec-NRW from 1997 to 2000, are located in this area. The focus ranges from companies developing and offering basic technologies (like nucleic acid purification (QIAGEN),(CHEMAGEN), cell separation (MILTENYI), transfection innovative bioreactors (PAPASPYROU) (DASGIP), contract scale up bioprocessing (GIRINDUS), quality control (NEWLAB BIOQUALITY), chip technology (MEMOREC), (BIOFRONTERA) and bioinformatics (SCIENCE FACTORY), innovative protein design (DIREVO) over companies working in the diagnostic fields (human, animals, plants) (BIOGNOSIS), (MIRA), (LEMNATEC) up to companies with broad technology platforms integrating functional genomics/proteomics, biocomputing and transgenic animal models with research programs focussed on cancer, brain/neurodegenerative diseases, cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes, etc..(ARTEMIS), (BIOFRONTERA), (MEMOREC), (CARDION). Hardly surprising, then, that this 25-mile stretch of the Rhein between Cologne and Düsseldorf together with the neighbouring Aachen/Jülich will be called BIORIVER.

Seen from a distance, NRW region of 13.000 square miles looks like one big cluster. On closer inspection, you will see the area between the rivers Rhein and Weser has the strongest concentration of biotech companies, established pharmaceutical and chemical industry as well as universities, medical faculties and research institutions in the BIORIVER area. New incubators for biotech spin offs from universities and additional lab space specially designed to the needs of emerging and growing biotech companies are under construction in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Leverkusen, Jülich and Aachen. So in the near future more affordable lab space will be available in the BIORIVER region as an added benefit to biotech companies. New Biotech companies would also benefit from a tight network of various research organisations from academia and industry. But the recent boost in biotech start-ups in NRW is not restricted on the BIORIVER area. New biotech locations are emerging, especially in the neighbourhood of the universities and research institutes in Münster, Bielefeld, Bochum, Bonn, Dortmund and Essen.

Both Dortmund and Münster formed initiatives - BioIndustry and BioAnalytik-were combining their various strengths in biotechnology, nanotechnology and biosensors. The medical faculties in Bonn and Münster are the first of German universities to establish comprehensive technology platforms for functional genomics / proteomics / biocomputation combined it with their abilities in clinical research (LIFE & BRAIN in Bonn with focus on brain research; IFG (Integrated Functional Genomics) in Münster with focus on inflammatory and cardio-vascular diseases). Bielefeld with the well-known Institute of Genetics, a perfectly equipped centre for genome research and one of Germany's top four addresses in bioinformatics is another emerging biotech cluster with several start-ups and spin-offs from the university. Further biotech start-ups are found in the Ruhr area between Essen and Bochum - both of these universities have a medical faculty. A total of 75 projects with a total investment volume of 638 million DM have been accompanied and supported by Bio-Gen-Tec-NRW. More than one third of this money came from the federal and the state government as non-repayable grants. The remaining two thirds (392 million DM) came from private investors.

A complete list and characterisation of all biotech companies and research insti-tutions in NRW is published in the Bio-Gen-Tec Atlas at www.bio-gen-tec-nrw.de. This database offers a comprehensive overview of NRW's biotech scene with detailed profiles of companies and research institutes.

Welcome to the future

Which is the number one biotech region in Germany - or Europe? The answer to this question - obviously of great importance for most other regions - depends strongly on the criteria you choose to apply, e.g. the number of all biotech companies, the number of young start-ups.

At least 40 regions all over the world call themselves biotechnology hot spots - and for many of them this is true. In about 15 years the real number of hot spots in biotechnology will shrink to about 20. We hope to be one of them and this is why:

  • Today we count more than 100 biotech companies in NRW, the majority of which was founded in the past four years (for details see www.bio-gen-tec-nrw.de).

  • A recent study of the Boston Consulting Group comparing the three winners of the BioRegio competition plus Berlin / Brandenburg underlines the leading position of the BIORIVER area.

  • The highly increased availability of venture capital and the keen interest of investors in the shares of young biotech companies are clear signs of the consolidation and international positioning of NRW as a biotech location.

  • Public attitude to modern biotechnology is becoming more and more favourable especially as a result of the medical/health applications.

  • Both federal government and state government emphasise their resolve to make use of the opportunities presented by modern biotechnology and to improve the technology transfer process.

These boundary conditions, which project further growth of modern biotechnology in NRW, can only be called excellent. Only five years ago we hardly dared to hope for such a positive development in the future - now it is right here. And this encouraging development is bound to continue in the future.

The state initiative Bio-Gen-Tec-NRW will continue to play its role as a catalyst for a further sustainable growth of the biotech scene in NRW. Backed by a long term commitment of the state government Bio-Gen-Tec-NRW will concentrate all activities and meet future challenges of the expanding biotech community.

For further information please contact:

  • Hartmut Thomas (CEO)

  • Bio-Gen-Tec-NRW e.V.,

  • Eupener Str. 159,

  • 50933 Köln

  • Phone: (+49)-221-949824-0

  • Fax: (+49)-221-94982444

  • office@bio-gen-tec-nrw.de

  • www.bio-gen-tec-nrw.de