Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony are once again presenting themselves together as a dynamic and innovative life sciences and pharmaceutical location at the Swiss Biotech Day on April 22 and 23 in Basel.
Investitions- und Marketinggesellschaft Sachsen-Anhalt mbH (IMG) and Wirtschaftsförderung Sachsen GmbH (WFS), together with the industry networks biosaxony e.V. and Life Science Sachsen-Anhalt e.V. as well as Biotype GmbH from Dresden and Oncotec Pharma Produktion GmbH from Dessau, will be presenting their products and services and promoting the location. The Swiss Biotech Day is one of the leading European biotechnology conferences and brings together experts from the industry, innovative start-ups and established companies to discuss current trends and topics and to find new customers or business partners.
IMG and WFS also work together across national borders in the joint project "airea - The Airport Region in Central Germany", which forms the framework for the presentation. Both are working with Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG (MFAG) to attract investors to the region. "airea - The Airport Region in Central Germany" is one of the top addresses nationally and globally for the biotechnology, medical technology and pharmaceutical industries. The DHL hub at Leipzig/Halle Airport, which transports pharmaceutical and biotech products to more than 200 destinations worldwide around the clock, also makes a significant contribution to this.
"Saxony-Anhalt's companies are ideally positioned for the important life science market: In close cooperation with universities and research institutions, they develop outstanding biotechnological innovations, but also in the fields of diagnostics and therapy, medical devices and health IT as well as prosthetics. The future viability of Saxony-Anhalt as a location is also demonstrated, for example, by Wacker Chemie AG's latest investment in an mRNA center in Halle (Saale), where up to 80 million doses of vector vaccine can be produced per year from summer 2024 and around 200 people will be working on the development of vaccines against diseases such as cancer," explains Dr. Robert Franke, Managing Director of IMG.
The "Saxony-Anhalt Life Science Cluster" association, founded in 2023, is making its debut at Swiss Biotech Day. 21 companies and industry associations as well as six scientific institutions are involved in the network, including hidden champions and start-ups as well as industry giants such as Wacker Biotech, Salutas Pharma, Merz Pharma and IDT Biologika. Whether quality management, recruiting, logistics or management - the opportunity to exchange experiences helps the members and strengthens the life science industry in Saxony-Anhalt.
"Saxony wants to present its broad expertise and know-how in the fields of biotechnology, therapy, diagnostics and medical devices at the trade fair and talk to interested representatives from the industry in order to convince them of Saxony's locational advantages. With a unique ecosystem of production, research and development, industry expertise and interdisciplinary cooperation, our business location is one of the most exciting and dynamic life sciences regions in Germany. In this respect, we see numerous points of contact for the Swiss market, which we last visited in 2022 as part of a business trip," says WFS Managing Director Thomas Horn.
At the trade fair, biosaxony, the Saxon cluster for biotechnology, medical technology and the healthcare industry, will present its Medical Forge accelerator, among other things. This supports start-ups and companies in bringing medical products to the German healthcare market more quickly. The tailor-made 12-month program accompanies eight companies from Germany and abroad through the German innovation landscape each year. Participants benefit from state-of-the-art laboratory workstations, coaching and mentoring from experienced industry experts and, in particular, easier access to clinics and thus to the users of their technologies.
More about the Saxony-Anhalt Life Science Cluster here