The network
The BioPark Regensburg GmbH is the management and administrative headquarters of the biotechnology cluster known as BioRegio Regensburg in East Bavaria. Located strategically at the northernmost point of the Danube, in the Austrian-Czech-German triangle, the area is regarded as the gateway to the East of the extended European Union. Currently, 40 firms with over 2,500 employees are active in the field of life sciences in BioRegio Regensburg. As a result, it has become an exceedingly important region for biotechnology in Bavaria, second only to Munich.
Main activities
With its University, its University of Applied Sciences, and its Medical Centre, the city of Regensburg possesses the youngest and most modern institutions in Bavaria, the 7,000 employees and 24,000 students of which have shaped the dynamic economic location of Regensburg. The professorial chairs have proven the high quality of the university research institutions in the area of life sciences. Among these are special fields of research of the German Research Foundation (SFB, DFG), several grants provided by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (bmb+f), and grants from the José Carreras Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In the field of infection biology, the Medical Centre is a partner of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Since 2007, the Fraunhofer Project Group for the Diagnosis and Therapy of Tumorous, Metabolic and Geriatric Diseases has been located in the Biopark.
In 1998, BioPark Regensburg GmbH was founded as a further catalyst for this aspiring sector. With support from the State of Bavaria, the Biopark was erected for 36 million euros on the grounds of the University. The buildings offer 12,000 m2 of laboratory and office facilities for companies and institutes in the fields of biotechnology and medical technology. Currently, 22 leaseholders with 500 employees are active in the BioPark.
The technological focus
The BioRegio Regensburg celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2006. In this period, over 100 million euros have been invested in the development of the life sciences. 27 companies have been founded and the number of employees has increased more than five-fold to 2,400. The BioPark companies have regularly received awards for their innovative business ideas, e.g. Antisense Pharma (Bavarian Prize for Innovation and German Foundation Prize) and Geneart AG ("One of the 10 most innovative high-tech companies in Germany"), which was also the first BioPark company to go public in 2006 in Frankfurt. AMGEN Research GmbH is the only research centre in Europe belonging to one of the largest biotech companies in the USA. Bayer Innovation has started operations in its new pilot production plant for silicone skin replacement products. In 2008, BioPark Regensburg was named a "Landmark" by the Federal Initiative "Germany – Land of Ideas".
Highlights
Several companies at BioRegio Regensburg have developed into internationally active production locations with clean rooms. These include Bionorica AG and AMAREG GmbH (pharmaceutics), Syntacoll GmbH and PAN Biotech GmbH (biotechnology), RKT Roding Kunststoff-Technik GmbH and Gerresheimer Wilden AG (medical technology). Schmack Biogas AG is the technology and market leader of the German biogas industry and was launched on the Stock Exchange in 2006.
In regular location analyses, the potential for development of BioRegio Regensburg has been analysed. Together with Capgemini Deutschland GmbH, in 2006 BioPark Regensburg GmbH identified regional interdisciplinary fields in the region and founded the Agency IA-Biotech for realisation purposes. In the applied fields of molecular diagnostics, biochips, and biofunctional surfaces, regional companies were brought together with the companies from BioRegio Regensburg. Through this technology-spanning network, the dynamics in the cluster were increased by a further eleven regional companies. A further extension is the Sensor Technology cluster platform of the Allianz Bayern Innovativ initiative. In addition to the PreSens Precision Sensing GmbH, now the cluster management of the Sensor Technology Strategic Partnership (SPS) is located in the BioPark.
