According to Assobiotec (the national association for the development of biotechnologies), Italy lags behind the rest of Europe in the development of the biotech industry. Today, however, our country can and must catch up as it has huge potential for creating biotechnologies.

The wealth of know-how and talent available – and ready to be put to good use – is such as to offer more than one advantage to anyone planning to invest in the entrepreneurial development of biotechnology here in Italy as opposed to other European countries; here, in fact, the bio-industry development process is at a more advanced stage. Potential advantages lie both in terms of venture capital and the possibility of setting up production units, and in terms of making joint ventures and partnerships with Italy’s budding biotech companies.

The Milanese metropolitan area is ready to take up this challenge and the figures recorded in the biotech sector are an undisputed resource:

• 32,000 research workers (22% of all Italian researchers); 
• 50% of Italy’s biotech companies located in the Milanese region 
• €2 bln of private investments in Research & Development (equivalent to 33% of the national total);
• 70% of investments in this type of research are private and the remaining 30% public.
  

The area provides the biotech industry with an effective network of research centres, science & technology parks and medical research laboratories, offering a particularly fruitful relationship between research, experimentation and industrialization.

Useful links

BIOMILANO Network
BIOART
Italian Biotechnology Directory

Other links