The Healthcare Industry in Baden-Württemberg is strongly represented with 1,088 companies* that research, develop and/or manufacture here. The healthcare sector is an important leading industry for Baden-Württemberg. Baden-Württemberg's characteristic mix of small, medium-sized and large companies guarantees the stability of the region’s healthcare industry. This includes major global market leaders such as Roche Pharma AG, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG or ERBE Elektromedizin GmbH, hidden champions such as Richard Wolf GmbH and family-run companies such as Osypka AG or Dr. Willmar Schwabe GmbH & Co. KG. Labour productivity figures and the number of skilled jobs also reflect stability and innovative capability.

In the past ten years, 175 health-related start-ups have been founded in Baden-Württemberg, most of them in the high-tech segment. Together with the state’s university hospitals, research institutions and networks, a lively innovation ecosystem has been created here.

The economic impact of the industrial healthcare sector (iGW) in Baden-Württemberg is reflected in the gross value added (GVA), which amounted to around 19.8 billion euros in 2022. This means that 32 percent of the gross value added contribution of the regional healthcare sector in Baden-Württemberg is attributable to the iGW. Around 215,400 employees worked in the iGW in Baden-Württemberg in 2022, which corresponds to 21 percent of all employees in the healthcare industry.¹⁾

Investment in research and development (R&D) is needed in order to generate innovation. In 2023, the number of patent applications submitted to the European Patent Office increased by 2.9 percent in Europe compared to the previous year. Most applications originated from the USA (24.2 percent), followed by Germany (12.5 percent). The top 10 fields of technology include medical technology, the pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology. Growth rates were particularly high in the biotechnology sector (plus 5.9 percent), while the growth rate in the medical technology sector was much more modest (plus 1.3 percent). In the pharmaceutical industry, the growth rate fell by minus 3.4 percent.²⁾ With 14,648 patent applications in 2023, Baden-Württemberg takes first place in a nationwide comparison across Germany, followed by Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia³⁾.

With an export contribution of 45.7 billion euros, Baden-Württemberg’s industrial healthcare sector is the leading exporter among the federal states of Germany. These are 95 percent of all exports of the whole healthcare sector in Baden-Württemberg.¹⁾ In general, the Healthcare Industry has proven itself to be an innovative and relatively independent driver of economic growth. On the one hand, major technological innovations are emerging through the use of artificial intelligence, quantum technology or gene and cell therapy. However, demographic changes, multimorbidity, rising costs, scarcity of resources in the area of raw materials and energy as well as changes driven by climate change such as heatwaves or flooding and their impact on healthcare represent a major challenge, on the other hand.

* For companies that are active in several economic sectors, the company was only counted once.