Facts about Biotech in Europe
- In 2010, the European Biotech Industry generated 13 billion euros revenues, up 12% compared to 2009.
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Total funding for the European biotech industry in 2010 was €2.9 billion.
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Venture capital raised in Europe totalled €1 billion in 2010.
- In 2010, in each of the four established biotech centres (Europe, US, Canada, Australia), large firms took drastic cost-cutting measures, resulting in solid bottom line growth.
- Global spending on R&D was cut by 21% in 2009 but grew again slightly by 2% in 2010.
- In 2009 55% of European companies decreased their R&D spend, but in 2010 this number dropped to 45%.
- Accoring to the OECD, the United States has the largest number of biotechnology firms (6 213 firms), followed by France (1 359 firms) and Spain (1 095 firms).
- The majority of firms have less than 50 employees. The share of firms with less than 50 employees ranges from 43% in Japan to 90% in New Zealand.
- The United States spent USD 22 030 million PPP on biotechnology R&D, approximately 7.6% of total US Business Enterprise R&D (BERD).
- Biotechnology BERD as a share of total BERD is an indicator of country’s research focus on biotechnology. On average, bio¬technology BERD accounted for 6% of total BERD. Ireland spends the most as a percentage of BERD (15.1%).
- Public biotechnology R&D has been defined as the sum of government and higher education biotechnology R&D. The highest level of public sector expenditures on biotechnology R&D is found in Germany, followed by Korea and Spain.
- The share of public biotechnology R&D in total public R&D spending provides an indicator of the importance governments place on biotechnology R&D. The biotechnology share of all public R&D expenditures is highest in Korea, at 20.4%, followed by Germany (18.3%) and Spain (13.3%).
Source and graphs: OECD Key Biotechnology Indicators Report, December 2011 http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/38/33/49303992.pdf
