History and Past Development
When did it all start? Perhaps you will have to go back to the 70s of the last century and recall the pioneering foundation of the Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich with its emphasis on molecular biology.
Or perhaps the foundation of the Gene Center Munich at the beginning of the 80s, one of four centres in Germany devoting themselves quite exclusively to genetic research.
By the end of the 80s, this ambience of progressive research institutions and a Bavarian population that was open to innovations resulted in the first companies being established in Southern Bavaria, a trend which by 1996 had already led
to the foundation of around 30 biotechnology companies in the Munich region. Another major boost was certainly caused by Munich-Martinsried winning the federal BioRegio Competition in 1996. But also the Regensburg location
profited with lasting effect from participating in the competition. In the following years Munich grew into one of the most important Biotech Clusters in Europe.
An evaluation study by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) confirms that the Munich region has undergone an “exemplary development”. But even if Bavaria's South is often the centre of attention of national and international
observers, the Regensburg and Würzburg locations have nevertheless – or even because of this - also developed in a consistent and remarkable manner.
In the last years three regional organisations have developped, the BioM Biotech Cluster Development GmbH for the Greater Munich Area (München-Freising-Martinsried), the BioPark Regensburg GmbH for "biotech at the danube" and the Bio-Med/ZMK in Würzburg, the biomedical valley in the north of Bavaria.
The aim of the Cluster-Initiative is to improve the networking between these regional centers of competence.
