EU leaders give biotech go ahead

EU leaders gave full backing to the European Commission life sciences and biotechnology strategy at the recent Barcelona Summit.

"They have followed their Stockholm commitments on biotech," says Hugo Schepens, secretary general of EuropaBio, "because they know that the Lisbon summit goals cannot be reached without it. No other technology offers the same potential for job creation, innovation and growth.

"Biotechnology is a broad economic opportunity in healthcare, food and industrial applications and offers considerable environmental and sustainability benefits. While Europe has now more biotech companies than the US, we produce fewer products, employ fewer people and have less finance to develop the industry.

"EuropaBio calls on the EU to invest in skills and training of people, to create a predictable legal framework that is respected and implemented across the internal market and to encourage entrepreneurship and private and public investment in the biotech sector.

The European Commission estimates that by 2005 the European biotechnology market could be worth over A$200 billion. By the end of the decade, global markets including sectors where life sciences and biotechnology will constitute a major portion of the new technology applied could amount to over A$4000 billion (equivalent to the 2001 GDP of Germany).