Future Council of the Federal Chancellor: Biotechnology a key technology for Germany

München, 07 June 2023

At the invitation of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Future Council met on Thursday, 6 June, to discuss biotechnology as a key technology of the 21st century and its economic potential for Germany.

The determination to consistently build on the recent successes of biotechnology in Germany in overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic became apparent during the course of the Future Council’s two-hour debate. The Council identified conditions and needs for action that must be met in order to leverage this potential. Germany is home to successful pharmaceutical and chemical companies as well as partners in medical and industrial biotechnology and boasts an excellent research landscape in biotechnology. The members of the Future Council noted that the promising conditions should be promoted to translate research results into application and to establish biotechnology hubs with international appeal. Furthermore, the opportunities arising from linking artificial intelligence and data usage with biotechnological developments should be exploited to a greater extent.

The Future Council also emphasised the need to place Germany in a resilient position within newly emerging international value-added networks as well as at European level. With this standing, it could glean early benefit from new applications that are aligned to European values and also secure our prosperity and our technological sovereignty in the long term. The third meeting of the Future Council was also attended by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck, Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach and Head of the Federal Chancellery Wolfgang Schmidt.

The agenda of the Future Council of the Federal Chancellor is prepared by an office within acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering.

The members of the Future Council from industry, science and society are:

• Prof. Dr. Dr. Ann-Kristin Achleitner | TUM Distinguished Affiliated Professor at the Technical University of Munich
• Prof. Dr. Stefan Asenkerschbaumer | Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Robert Bosch GmbH
• Prof. Dr. Frau Irene Bertschek | Head of the ZEW Research Unit “Digital Economy”; member of the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI)
• Dr. Martin Brudermüller | Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE
• Yasmin Fahimi | Chairperson of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB)
• Prof. Dr. Holger Hanselka | President-elect of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
• Dirk Hoke | CEO of Volocopter
• Prof. Dr. Henning Kagermann | Chairman of the acatech Board of Trustees
• Christian Klein | CEO and member of the Executive Board of SAP SE
• Dr. Tina Klüwer | Director AI at K.I.E.Z.
• Prof. Dr. Bettina Schöne-Seifert | Professor of medical ethics at the University of Münster
• Prof. Dr. Martin Stratmann | Director of the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH
• Prof. Dr. Geraldine Rauch | President of the TU Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Özlem Türeci | Co-founder and CMO of BioNTech; Professor of personalised immunotherapy at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
• Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber| acatech President
• Dr. Joachim Wenning | Chair of the Board of Management of Munich Re