New Italian Biotech Industry report: almost 500 biotech companies, 9,200 employees, turnover of 9.4 billion euro

The new Italian Biotech Industry report, published by Assobiotec (the national association of biotech companies which is part of Federchimica) and ENEA (the national agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable economic development), gives an updated, detailed picture of the Italian biotech industry.

The document presents sector facts and data showing how the Italian biotech industry has undergone extraordinary growth. This is due to several factors, one of them being the undisputed excellence of academic and industrial research and the ability of Italian companies to turn innovation into valuable products and technologies.

At the end of 2015 almost 500 biotech companies were active in Italy, covering all fields of application. Over half of these (256) are dedicated biotech R&D firms that devote more than 75% of their total R&D investment to research relating to biotechnologies.

The vast majority of Italian biotech companies (75%) are micro or small firms. This rises to 90% when considering only the dedicated biotech R&D companies, which are indeed the driving force for the entire Italian biotech industry.

Total biotech turnover exceeds 9.4 billion euro; R&D investment makes over 1.8 billion euro, while the number of biotech employees is above 9,200.

Biotechnology is a high research-intensive industry: of the Italian capital destined for biotech R&D firms, the percentage of biotech R&D investment on turnover reaches 25%, rising as high as 40% for some firms.

For more information and a more in depth analysis of the specific fields of biotech application:  http://assobiotec.federchimica.it/docs/default-source/pubblicazioni/bioinitaly-report/italian-biotechnology-report-2016.pdf?sfvrsn=26

For further information:

Gaetano Coletta - Centro Ricerche Bologna - gaetano.coletta@enea.it