The BioTech-Region München

The BioTech-Region München is one of Germany's most well known biotechnology clusters, which has made a name for itself through the special potential it offers for excellent biotechnological research and its targeted implementation in the industry. A wave of bright new business ideas, smart financing programs and the availability of private money has given way to a new era of entrepreneurism in Germany and especially in the Munich area.

The BioTech-Region München is developing at a particularly dynamic rate and has currently more than 130 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to its credit. Due to a first-rate scientific environment, a large number of international VC companies and attractive financing instruments provided both by the German Federal Government and the State of Bavaria, a remarkable number of new businesses are founded here every year. This trend has also been accompanied by a high rise in the number of jobs. In the beginning of 1997 approximately 300 people were working in the small and medium sized biotech companies in Munich, now the figure is well over 3000.

“The biotechnology market will continue its dynamic development, especially since its commercial exploitation has only just begun,” says Horst Domdey, Managing Director of BioM and founder of two biotech companies in Martinsried.

“In contrast to the Internet and eCommerce business, the biotechnology sector is characterized by a huge number of unexplored fields so that there is enough space for innovative ideas.”

This successful development indicates that the BioTech-Region München is on its way to become one of the top biotechnology centres in Europe. Five companies of the BioTech-Region München are represented on various stock exchanges. These are Bavarian Nordic, MediGene, MorphoSys, MWG-Biotech, and GPC Biotech. In Munich, academia and industry have developed, established and optimised a variety of modern biotechniques including genomics and proteomics, 3D structural analysis, combinatorial chemistry and biology, transgenic technologies, vaccine development, bioinformatics, drug and gene delivery systems, and many others. In addition, high-tech service and supply companies provide the necessary infrastructure for a positive growth development.

Reasons for this tremendous success are complex. The BioTech-Region München is known for its excellent scientific base. Most of the founded companies in Munich are intellectual spin-offs from one of the two Munich universities (Ludwig-Maximilians-University and Technical University), the National Research Center for Environment and Health (GSF), or the Max Planck Institutes of Biochemistry and Neurobiology located in Martinsried. Founded in 1973, the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Biochemistry (www.biochem.mpg.de) is the oldest research facility in Martinsried. With their research focussed on structure and function of biological systems (from molecules to complex organisms), the institute's scientists are experts in methods of protein chemistry, molecular biology, cell biology and molecular structure biology. The focus of research at the MPI of Neurobiology (www.neuro.mpg.de) is on molecular developmental biology, plasticity and function of the brain, experimental and theoretical analysis of visual and auditory systems, and cellular neuropathology and neuroimmunology. With a staff of nearly 1000 people, both institutes are important employers in Martinsried.

Furthermore the capital market is excellent, 30 out of 55 local venture capital funds invest in biotechnology - with the possibility that their investments are doubled or even tripled through silent partnerships. More than fifty small and medium-sized companies - almost half of the companies in the BioTech-Region München - are financed through venture capital.

The “Gene Valley” Martinsried

Martinsried - a small village southwest of the Munich city borders - is the centre of the biotech cluster, where about half of the Munich biotech companies are located. More than twenty of them take advantage of the facilities offered by the continuously expanding biotech incubator (Innovations- und Gründerzentrum Biotechnologie, IZB). In addition, not far away from the incubator, the new life science campus of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University is being built.

Future prospects

A new biotechnology centre with focus on agrobiotechnology is developing just a few kilometers north of Munich in Freising Weihenstephan. This development has been supported by the merging of the former Faculties for Agriculture, Food and Forestry of the Technische Universität München, resulting in the Centre of Life-Sciences Weihenstephan. The construction of another innovation centre for biotechnology similar to Martinsried's IZB began in August of 2000 and will be completed by the end of 2001.

BioM - The Driving Force behind the BioTech-Region München

The BioTech-Region München was one of the winners of the BioRegio competition of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and received DM 50 million for supporting start-ups in life sciences over a period of five years. Another consequence was the implementation of a local organization, BioM, which was founded to foster the development of the emerging biotechnology cluster. BioM has become one of the most important success factors for the BioTech-Region München.

Furthermore, BioM is also a small venture capital company specialised on seed financing. Using a high-ranking scientific advisory board, the business ideas of future entrepreneurs are looked at. After a proof of concept, BioM helps to get more capital from venture capital companies, business angels and support from public funds. Another important job of BioM is the promotion of the region. The state of Bavaria commissioned BioM for the location marketing of the BioTech- Region München in Germany and abroad.

But BioM is not only a financing and promotion company, it provides also service and consulting for the biotech companies and potential founders. It is the “one-stop location” for start-ups and biotech companies seeking financial support or business advice.

Through the BioM network including all important players in the region (public offices, experts, capitalists and biotech companies), BioM can assist Munich companies in finding the right contacts and partners. As a service for the biotech companies in the region of Munich, BioM also organizes free seminars and workshops on a broad range of topics of relevance for the successful development of a biotech company. The companies are also offered the possibility to participate in larger exhibitions, partnering conferences and other events. In terms of partnering conferences and seminars, BioM co-operates with other biotech regions in both Europe and the United States.

Bio M AG Munich BioTech Development

  • AM Klopferspitz 19

  • D-82152

  • Martinsried

  • Germany

  • TEL: + 49(0)89/89 96 79-0

  • FAX: + 49(0)89/89 96 79-79

  • info@bio-m.de

  • www.bio-m.de