Discover Germany | Advertorial | Berlin Biotech
Spreebogen Park. Photo: © Berlin Partner, FritschFoto
The Biotech capital, the world is coming to visit Every day, Germany’s capital Berlin is visited by tourists from all over the world. In fact, more than 12 million people visited last year alone. But among those coming to visit the city are also many researchers and scientists, who gather to exchange information and share their findings. Berlin is very popular for large conferences and conventions. The city is a biotech and science hub and attracts large pharmaceutical companies as well as innovative start-ups. TEXT: JESSICA HOLZHAUSEN
About 7.7 million of the over 33 million overnight stays in 2016 could be attributed to the conference and convention sector. At round about 15 per cent, science and research events make up the largest share of conferences and conventions held at the city. Berlin’s modern and, by international standards, quite affordable hotels have a capacity of 140,000 beds in total and therefore can meet all the necessary demands. In short, Berlin has the right infrastructure to host large-scale events 22 | Issue 55 | October 2017
like the annual World Health Summit, the international strategy forum for healthcare policies. In November 2017, the BIOEurope is also held in Berlin. But what might make the city additionally attractive is that Berlin itself is a science hub, a centre for research in medicine and bioscience. With its 350,000 employees, the health sector today has become one of the most vital industries in the BerlinBrandenburg area – one that is constantly
growing. Currently there are almost 600 life science businesses operating in the capital: 240 of them are in the biotech sector and about 300 work in medical technology. Above that, 30 pharmaceutical companies operate from Berlin, among them international corporations like Bayer, Pfizer, Sanofi and Takeda. Medical and pharmaceutical innovations “Berlin is an innovative, open and international city. The last aspect is particularly important to us, as it helps us to recruit the best talents. The business enterprise sector taking root here is simply overwhelming. Young people are happy to come to Berlin because it’s here that they find kindred spirits, because life is good and the city is historically important,” Clemens Kaiser, chief executive officer (CEO) at Sanofi-Aventis