biosaxony: Driving growth for life sciences in highly successful region
Saxony is a striking example of coherent, well coordinated research and development (R&D) policy to promote the establishment and further development of high technology industries. These conclusions from a 2008 case study funded by the European Union are followed by numerous lessons learned that the Centre for European Economic Research lists as contributing to the success of the region.
Along with the neighboring Federal States of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, Saxony faced a severe decline of economic activity following re-unification of Germany. Currently, more than one third of the R&D personnel of the “Neue Laender”, including Berlin, are employed in Saxony.
Saxony developed a clear strategy to support high technology industries and attract foreign direct investment by rebuilding the public research base and installing a surprising number of specialized German research institutes from the Fraunhofer (15), Max-Planck (6), Leibniz (7) and Helmhotlz (3) organizations. In the last 10 years, more than EUR 600 million have been invested in the life science sector in Saxony—half coming from private sources.
Today the region surrounding Leipzig and Dresden boasts multiple thematic research programs and collaborative R&D projects where scientific institutions collaborate closely with private companies to develop new products and services in biotechnology, material technologies, nanotechnology, microelectronics, environmental technologies and production technologies.
The focus of biosaxony is to initiate projects and leverage synergies between complementary industries and science.
About 300 companies are working within the wide field of medical technology in Saxony including 75 companies investigating, developing and manufacturing medical products such as technical equipment and orthopedic devices.
Where Dresden integrated excellence in engineering into sectors from medicine to bioengineering, the research centers and dense healthcare network found in Leipzig create a platform where synergies between public and private institutions can focus on biotechnology and medical device technologies.
A study by the City of Leipzig and the VFG Association for the promotion of healthcare in the Leipzig region conducted by KPMG found:
- The main fields of patient care in Leipzig include heart surgery/cardiology, oncology, neuromedicine and transplantation medicine (organs and tissue).
- Leipzig is especially outstanding in the fields of computer-assisted surgery, heart and brain research, internal medicine, psychiatry and regenerative medicine.
- The sector currently contains 43 companies, including 25 working in biotechnology, 17 in medical equipment, and 1 in pharmaceuticals.
These firms concentrate on diagnosis (15) and therapy (13).
The medical equipment industry in the Leipzig region is largely made up of small firms which are nevertheless very active in R&D.
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