Bildnachweis: Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt.
Germany has world-class health research, but turning scientific excellence into market success requires more private capital. Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space Dorothee Bär discusses biotech, women’s health and the ‘GO-Bio next’ initiative – and explains how Germany and Europe can strengthen life sciences financing.
VC Magazin: The Science Year 2026 – an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space – focuses on the overarching theme ‘medicine of the future’. You are emphasising strong research in prevention and medicine. Which research and technology segments are a priority for you in this context – and where do you see the greatest potential in the coming years to mobilise private capital for innovation in the life sciences?
Bär: Dedicating the first Science Year under my responsibility as Minister to the issue of health was something I felt strongly about. After all, health concerns us all. At the very latest when our own health or that of those around us is threatened, it becomes clear just how valuable it is. In the current Science Year devoted to ‘Medicine of the Future’ we show how technological innovations are changing the everyday lives of patients. And how artificial intelligence and biotechnology are helping in the early detection of disease and the development of new treatments. We have world-class research institutions. Our potential is enormous. We want Germany to develop further as a top location for health research and clinical trials, above all in the fields of biotechnology, medical technology, artificial intelligence and biomedical engineering. We have laid the foundations for the medical breakthroughs of tomorrow with the Hightech Agenda Germany. The Agenda is the central innovation initiative of my ministry and of the Federal Government to achieve greater competitiveness, value creation, and sovereignty through research and technology.
VC Magazin: In your first speech to the Bundestag, you presented the Hightech Agenda with increased investment in future and key technologies, explicitly including health research. How do you assess your track record in this area so far? Which advances are already tangible today from the perspective of founders and investors?
Bär: We want to go from being top-class in research to being top-class competitors. With the Hightech Agenda Germany, we are investing more in key technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum technology, microelectronics, biotechnology, fusion, and climate-neutral energy generation and mobility. We are creating better conditions and incentives for the faster translation of research into practical applications. My ministry alone is making approximately EUR 2.9 billion available for funding of the key technology biotech across the whole of the current legislative period up to 2029. We presented the first six technology roadmaps in May. We developed them in consultation with science and industry. For the first time in Germany, these show a clear pathway to the technological advances we want to achieve in the coming years. And they serve as the basis for our public investment. At the same time, they are an invitation to private actors to strengthen Germany’s hightech competitiveness with their own initiatives. In Germany, we have approximately 1,020 biotech companies with around 56,000 employees. This forward-looking sector already generates an annual turnover of around EUR 12 billion of which roughly 40% is spent on research and development.
VC Magazin: You have repeatedly stressed that women’s health is particularly close to your heart. This area is considered underfunded, despite offering significant medical and economic potential. In your view, what is needed to ensure that this topic receives greater attention in research and that start-ups and investments increase?
Bär: We still know too little about the influence of the factor of gender on the cause, manifestation, and effective treatment of diseases. This needs to change! This is why my ministry is supporting smart data collection, greater participation of women in clinical trials, and the research and development of innovative therapies. Only in this way can we create the basis that is essential for firms to be more active in this area of research – and to enable start-ups to develop new solutions on a broader basis of knowledge. A gender-specific perspective is worthwhile not only in human terms but also economically. Studies by the World Economic Forum show that closing the gender health gap – the systemic health divide between the sexes – could add USD 1 trillion to the global economy every year.
VC Magazin: One of the flagships of the Hightech Agenda is the new biotechnology start-up initiative ‘GO-Bio next’. What specific goals and plans does this initiative pursue, and how will it support founders?
Bär: We are providing more than EUR 100 million for the ‘GO-Bio next’ start-up initiative up to 2032. We are doing this in order to increase the number of biotech spin-offs and to mobilise venture capital. Funding is provided where biotech start-ups require special support because of long development times, high capital requirements, and complex regulatory demands. It is provided in two phases of up to three years each. First of all, teams with advanced research approaches are supported in preparing to found their start-ups. In the second phase, we support the startups in becoming established and scaling up. In this phase, the businesses already need to have private co-financing. In addition to financial support, the programme also provides coaching, advice, and training. In this way, we are creating a springboard from the lab to business; we are accelerating the transfer of research into marketable applications, and we are strengthening the biotech sector on a lasting basis. The first ten projects have already started.
VC Magazin: Due to their long and labour-intensive research processes, biotech start-ups require significantly more capital than many other sectors. How do you assess the current framework conditions for venture capital in Germany, and where do you see the greatest need for political action to facilitate private investment?
Bär: The German venture capital market has developed positively, but it still lags behind its international counterparts. My ministry has therefore defined the mobilisation of venture capital as a key overarching lever of the innovation ecosystem in the Hightech Agenda Germany. The Federal Government also makes use of this lever in its ‘Startup and Scaleup Strategy’, which is improving the conditions for start-ups, scale-ups, and the provision of venture capital with a comprehensive package of measures. Through this strategy, we are lowering the bureaucratic hurdles, mobilising more private as well as public venture capital, making it easier for direct university spin-offs, and providing impetus for future-oriented technologies like AI and biotech.
VC Magazin: Europe’s competitiveness is increasingly being decided in the capital markets. How do you assess Europe’s progress in financing life sciences innovations – and where do you continue to see structural deficits?
Bär: According to a study by the European Commission, biopharma start-ups in the USA receive around nine times more latestage financial support than their counterparts in the EU. We need more agile innovation pathways and intensified European cooperation so that EU, national, and private investment can be pooled in order to bring capital-intensive strategic technologies to market. The European Commission is addressing these structural deficits. It is focusing on the financing gap in the growth and scale-up phase and thus strengthening capital- intensive fields such as the life sciences with the European Tech Champions Initiative and the new Scaleup Europe Fund. In addition, we must also focus our attention on the preceding phases. Germany is therefore advocating a stronger and more agile European Innovation Council in the next EU Research Framework Programme. Further important elements are the Commission’s proposed Biotech Act and the European Competitiveness Fund.
VC Magazin: Thank you very much.
About the interview partner:
Dorothee Bär is Federal Minister for Research, Technology and Space.
