With a view to setting up a research and development center for the pharmaceutical company Biontech in Great Britain, Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger is concerned about Germany as a research location. “Biontech is not completely migrating, but that should give us food for thought in Germany and Europe,” said the FDP politician to the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “Despite the turning point, we have to work consistently on our competitiveness, reduce bureaucracy and remain open to technology.” A welcoming culture for innovations is needed more than ever.
With the future strategy for research and innovation, a cross-departmental foundation is being created “to pool the efforts and resources of the federal government and to focus them on the major challenges”.
The Mainz-based pharmaceutical company Biontech announced at the beginning of January that it wanted to set up a research and development center for cancer therapy in Great Britain. It also wants to take over a British start-up specializing in artificial intelligence.
Stark-Watzinger explained that the Helmholtz Institute in Mainz, together with Biontech founder Ugur Sahin, is still researching an immunotherapy against cancer in Germany.
