LOGOLOGOLOGOLOGO
  • About us
    • What we do
    • Who we are
      • Governance
      • Staff
      • Vacancies
  • Members
    • EuropaBio Members
    • About Membership
  • How we work
    • Healthcare Biotechnology Council
      • Patient BioForum
      • Study – Impact of the EU’s General Pharmaceutical Legislation
    • Industrial Biotechnology Council
      • EFIB
      • Microorganisms
    • National Associations Council
    • SME Platform
    • Biomanufacturing Platform
      • Biotechnology in our Lives
  • Activities
    • 25 Years of Innovation
    • The EU Biotech Act
    • European Biotech Week
    • EU Projects
      • PRIMED Project
      • APROVALS Project
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
  • Library
Become a member
✕

Measuring the economic footprint of the Biotechnology Industry in Europe (WifOR Study)

02/02/2021
REPORT

Measuring the economic footprint of the Biotechnology Industry in Europe

The purpose of this study is to estimate the economic impact of the production activities of European enterprises applying biotechnology in their research and manufacturing processes. The analysis covers the years between 2008 and 2018 while focusing on contributions to economic growth and employment. Especially estimations of direct as well as indirect and induced effects (so-called spillover effects) are considered, in total tagged as “footprint”. The impact is analysed regarding to employment and contribution to gross domes-tic product (GDP), the latter being measured in terms of gross value added (GVA). Therefore, this economic footprint analysis provides an overall eco-nomic picture of the EU biotechnology industry supplemented by trade and R&D figures. It sheds light on the performance of the industry, its direct contribution to Europe’s GDP and labour market, as well as on the spillover effects occurring in European supply chains.

The study computes the impact of the biotechnology industry operating in 28 EU member countries. A detailed description of data sources and methodology can be found in Appendix B.

The results show that the biotechnology industry has contributed €34.5 bn GVA to the growth of the European economy in 2018. If indirect and induced effects are considered, this amount increases to €78.7 bn. This simply means that every Euro of GVA directly generated by the biotechnology industry sup-ports additionally €1.3 GVA in the European economy.

Furthermore, the biotechnology industry accomplished to safeguard up to 223,000 jobs directly and supports 710,500 jobs along the value chain, mainly created by the suppliers of goods and services to the biotechnology industry. Or to put it differently, for each job in the biotechnology industry there are 3.2 additional jobs in the overall economy. Detailed figures on the three biotechnology sub-sectors can be found in Chapter 2.

This study was commissioned by EuropaBio, the European Association of Bioindustries, with the objective to better quantify the impact of the biotechnology industry on the European Union’s economy.

Founded in 1996, EuropaBio is the recognised voice of the EU biotechnology community, championing world-class solutions for society’s challenges. EuropaBio and its members are committed to the responsible use of biotechnology to improve quality of life, to prevent, diagnose, treat and cure diseases, to improve the quality and quantity of food and feedstuffs and to move towards a bio-based and zero-waste economy.



Download below the SUMMARY (3 pages) or the FULL REPORT (52 Pages).

EuropaBio - WifOR Study - FULL REPORT


Download

EuropaBio - WifOR Study - SUMMARY


Download

201208_WifOR_EuropaBIO_Economic_Impact_Biotech_FINALDownload
2021_02_G_REPORT_EuropaBio-WifOR_Economic_Footprint_Biotechnology_SummaryDownload
Share
Alexandra Simionca
Alexandra Simionca

Related posts

07/07/2025

EuropaBio Position on the Critical Medicines Act


Read more
03/07/2025

Life Sciences Strategy Embraces Biotech for Global Impact


Read more
26/06/2025

Health Biomanufacturing: Feedstock for Preparedness and Resilience


Read more

Important links

  • EuropaBio Position on the Critical Medicines Act
  • Life Sciences Strategy Embraces Biotech for Global Impact

Categories in our Newsroom

EBIO-white

EuropaBio represents corporate and associate members across sectors, plus national and regional biotechnology associations which, in turn, represent over 5000 biotech companies, 4600 out of them are SMEs.

Contact us

Extra links

Members
Staff
Privacy policy
Legal & cookies
Events
Newsroom

Become a member

Media pack

© 2025 Europabio. All Rights Reserved. Designed by EYAS
Become a member

Algal Omega 3

Algal Omega-3 is an innovative feed product for aquaculture. It reduces the impact on climate change by 30-40% compared to fish oil and saves 60 tons of wild fish for every ton of Algal Omega-3 used.

Cheese

Cheese is a vegetarian product thanks to biotechnology. Biotechnology is also essential to produce lactose- or cholesterol-free cheese, as well as alternative proteins.

Clothes

Clothes made from alternative fibres produced by microorganisms can be 8x stronger than steel, 100% recyclable, biodegradable and replace fossil-fuel based or resource-intensive textiles.

Vitamin B2

The biomanufacturing of Vitamin B2 led to the reduction of 75% of fossil raw materials and 50% operating costs, compared to the chemical process. Vitamin B2 is used in the food, feed or healthcare sectors.

Detergents

Enzymes and biosurfactancts are alternative ingredients that improve the performance of detergents, while leading to water and energy savings and reductions in CO2 emissions and water toxicity.

Insulin

Insulin is one of the most widely known biopharmaceutical. Biotechnology revolutionised its manufacturing process and led to the development of new types of insulin through r-DNA technology.