iL-CURRENT
April 14, 2025
Julia Schaft: "We need to get better and faster"
The venue for the German Biotech Days 2025 had a signal effect: Heidelberg and the metropolitan region are a hotspot for the biotechnology scene in Germany. InnovationLab attended the major industry gathering at the Heidelberg Congress Center, made contacts, visited event formats and gained an insight into this key and cross-sectional technology.
Several things were noticeable at the German Biotech Days, which premiered in 2010: the innovative strength of established companies and start-ups; the continuing existence of basic research and the interdisciplinary potential of the sciences; the charisma of the bioRN life science cluster with its 160 or so members; the range of opportunities offered by start-ups, which are an important factor in bridging; the importance of investors and venture capital; but also the political and global turnaround, which is causing some uncertainties and ultimately represents a turning point.
Ergo: Biotechnology is in the process of positioning itself and reinventing itself to a certain extent.
New kids on the block: The start-up pitches, here with representatives from the industrial sector, were very popular at the German Biotech Days in Heidelberg. Picture: InnovationLab
New record figures in Heidelberg
Organizer BIO Deutschland e.V. and the host partner region around the bioRN network were able to announce new record figures: 1,100 participants from 20 nations and 77 exhibitors - never before in the 15-year history of the German Biotech Days. The handover to the next host has also already taken place: Dr. Julia Schaft, Managing Director of bioRN, symbolically handed over the baton to André Hofmann, Managing Director of biosaxony, the cluster for biotechnology, medical technology and the healthcare industry in Saxony. The German Biotech Days will be held in Leipzig in 2026.
iL asked around among some experts in Heidelberg.
"We are the biotech city of Germany, if not Europe. (...) We concentrate on what we have. And that is knowledge. (...) If we don't turn knowledge into system-relevant products, then our children won't have any prospects either. We have to leave the ivory tower and dare to do more translation - research that turns into business and stays in the region. In Heidelberg, we are considering setting up a venture capital fund."
Prof. Dr. Eckart Würzner, Lord Mayor of Heidelberg
"In Germany, we have lost competitiveness in recent years. We must become better, we must become faster. More research, less bureaucracy, more EU-wide markets, legal immigration of skilled workers and more trade agreements. We also fully support the political efforts of BIO Deutschland to put biotechnology at the top of the agenda in Germany (a biotech agenda). An IPCAI Biotech must come, now that we have already missed the boat on IPCAI Health! (...) In the bioRN Life Science Cluster with its international character, united action has always been part of the DNA and a living "tradition". BioRN is a regional cluster and at the same time a platform that brings together national and international players from science and industry. Our established ecosystem is home to one of the oldest universities with scientific excellence - especially in the natural sciences - which has always attracted the brightest minds from all over the world and produced many talented young researchers. But it gets even better: a few years ago, Heidelberg University joined forces with six other regional giants in academic research and pooled this excellence in the Health and Life Science Alliance Heidelberg Mannheim to accelerate research and innovation together."
Dr. Julia Schaft, Managing Director of bioRN
Trio at the Heidelberg Congress Center: Dr. Viola Bronsema (from left to right), Managing Director of BIO Deutschland, Dr. Julia Schaft from the Life Science Cluster bioRN and Lord Mayor Prof. Dr. Eckart Würzner listen attentively to one of the more than 30 event formats. Image: BIO Deutschland, Sera Z. Kurc & Tolga Cakal
"The facilities at the Congress Center in Heidelberg do justice to the growing size and importance of our industry meeting. We have achieved an all-time record here. (...) It is not yet clear how the political events in the USA will affect the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. (...) We must finally set the course for translation and technology transfer. (...) The perception of biotech as a key technology must also be anchored in the Chancellor's Office."
Oliver Schacht, head of the BIO Deutschland association
"Heidelberg has set new standards with its congress center. The most successful event to date took place in Berlin in 2018, with 1,000 participants. We've had to fight our way back since coronavirus, and now we've broken the Berlin mark in Heidelberg."
Dr. Viola Bronsema, Managing Director of BIO Deutschland
"Health is a huge market. You can feel the general uncertainty right now, but everyone accepts the situation as a challenge. (...) For us, the German Biotech Days are a premiere - they are very well organized and bioRN is very helpful for us as a network. (...) Biotechnology is like science fiction for many people. We have to communicate that it has a lot to do with everyday products, food, nutrition and health."
Jannik Jungmann, co-founder and CEO of PHABIOC, a Karlsruhe-based start-up that emerged from KIT
"We are a small start-up based on the hip campus. We use the BioLabs infrastructure, but also EMBL's electronic microscopy. Heidelberg has a very broad base in the biotech scene. (...) We are very young and have been determining the first protein structures since January. We have a private investor, otherwise we would not be able to finance all the equipment and the specific measuring devices."
Dr. Mathias Gschell, scientific project manager of the Heidelberg start-up BIMOVIS
Joachim Klaehn
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