Biotech is a strategic sector, representing over 2% of the national GDP

"Biotech is a sector that has finally received attention in Europe. We are all waiting for the Biotech Act that should arrive at the beginning of 2026. China has its own strategic plan, the United States has theirs and now the EU has also moved in this direction. Soon, Europe will also have a specific program on biotechnologies that, being transversal, need skills and defined programs to express the maximum potential. We hope that Italy will be an important player". Fabrizio Greco, confirmed president of Assobiotec Federchimica for the next three years (2025-2028) with Elena Sgaravatti (PlantaRei Biotech) and Carlo Rosa (DiaSorin), as vice presidents, both in turn reconfirmed in their roles in the Assobiotec Presidential Council, explains the evolution of the awareness of the strategic importance of this sector on which the association has made a new mapping, analyzing the ATECO codes and estimating the biotech share in the various industrial sectors.

"Our report takes a snapshot of a complex, transversal and rapidly expanding sector," says Greco. "It is a strategic sector with a 2023 turnover of over 47.5 billion euros, equal to 2.23% of the national GDP." There are approximately 80,000 employees, concentrated in Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna, and they are employed in 4,888 companies, over half of which (54%) are micro-enterprises, but with a significant presence of large companies (20%). "These new numbers confirm that biotechnologies are enabling and transversal technologies, with applications that span many strategic fields such as pharmaceuticals and the circular bioeconomy," Greco explains. "They are technologies that can offer concrete answers to many of the great challenges of our time related to health, sustainability, productivity and strategic autonomy. A sector that is certainly destined to grow further in the coming years." In this regard, Greco cites data from an Ey report that shows the evolution and prospects of this sector, which in 2023 had a global turnover estimated at 1,553.9 billion euros, destined to double by 2030 to reach 3,879.5 billion euros. North America is the area of ​​the world that generates the highest revenues, while health is the most relevant sector with a turnover of 692.6 billion dollars. However, it is also relevant that 13.3 million farmers in the world use agricultural biotechnology to increase yields, prevent damage from insects and parasites and reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment.

In light of these numbers, the Minister of Business and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, in a letter sent to the Assembly, also emphasized the strategic nature of the sector and the institutional attention for the sector: "The full potential of European biotechnology is not yet fully exploited - wrote Urso -. Companies find themselves having to face bureaucratic obstacles, regulatory complexity and difficulties in bringing innovation to the market, making growth and competitiveness of the sector difficult. For this reason, we have worked trying to build a dedicated legislation, the Biotech Act, aimed at promoting innovation, accelerating the transition to a greener economy and strategic independence. This regulatory framework is part of a set of coordinated initiatives that include the EU strategy on life sciences, the bioeconomy and the Clean Industrial Deal. Many European countries have already developed their own national strategies and incentive tools to strengthen the sector. Although the legislative process has slowed down, it is essential to accelerate the analysis of the potential still unexpressed in our country to anticipate the actions to be taken, also following the strategy of the White Paper on industrial policy to be released soon".

Speaking about the Biotech Act, the European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare Olivér Várhelyi, currently working on the document, stressed in his video message that "biotechnologies offer enormous opportunities to innovate and produce in Europe, but too often the discoveries that arise in our laboratories fail to reach the market or are developed elsewhere". Hence the need and urgency to create a favorable ecosystem - made up of simple rules, targeted investments and adequate skills - to transform European scientific leadership into a concrete engine of growth and competitiveness through the Biotech Act.

In the meantime, however, Urso recalled that «we already have tools such as the National Research, Innovation and Competitiveness Program 2021-27 and the next IPCEI on biotechnology, both of which are essential to support research, development and the introduction of new frontier technologies. Furthermore, we must enhance the opportunities offered by the tools linked to the green and digital transition: incentives, administrative simplifications and tax breaks must be part of a joint strategic effort to reach full industrial maturity, creating new opportunities for investment and qualified employment. Skills are another strategic element: the demographic challenge and the decline in the workforce require all of us to invest in training, retraining and attracting talent. The sector has already demonstrated great maturity and growth potential. It is essential to accompany it with a clear, shared and timely strategy, based on innovation and sustainability, to strengthen Italy's role and build a greener and more advanced future».