In an article in the renowned magazine “Nature” the authors analyse biotech start-up ecosystems across Europe. The analysis shows the impressive strength of Switzerland.
In an article recently published by “Nature Biotechnology” the European biotech landscape has been examined. The article had two objectives: to compare the start-up activities in different countries and to find those ingredients that determine the success of biotech ecosystems.
The authors use the number of active start-ups as the indicator for success. The indicator is based on the number of biomedical companies which raised seed or venture capital between 2013 and 2017. UK is leading this ranking in absolute numbers with 129 start-ups, France ranks second (51 start-ups), Switzerland third (37 start-ups). When the size of the country is taken into account Switzerland tops the ranking followed by Denmark and Ireland.
The article analyses four variables which are considered to contribute to a thriving start-up scene: scientific output, intellectual property output, number of VCs and human capital. UK (highest scientific output, highest number of VCs) and France (highest intellectual output) lead the ranking in absolute numbers. If the size of the population is taken into account, the picture changes again and Switzerland is the clear number one in Europe. Per capita Switzerland has the highest scientific output, the most patents in the biomedical field and the highest number of VCs. In addition, Switzerland also excels in human capital which includes biomedical experts as well as entrepreneurs.
Regarding the importance of the different conditions for success the authors find that the scientific output is the dominant success factor. They also note that those countries with the highest R&D spending lead the ranking for this variable and recommend policymakers to prioritize biomedical research if they want to stimulate start-up activity. In addition the results show that all other factors (IP output, number of VCs, human capital) have a significant influence on the number of start-up financings per country.
The good results for Switzerland might even get better in the future. The authors see a trend in the US of founders moving to places with thriving ecosystems to start their company and they suggest that the same would also be beneficial for European founders. If entrepreneurs follow this advice strong ecosystems like Switzerland will get even stronger.
(SK)
Picture: Pixabay
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