Baden-Württemberg is home to 188 medical/red biotechnology companies that research, develop and/or manufacture here. In 2022, they generated a taxable turnover of 3.72 billion euros with 15,665 employees subject to social security contributions. Most biotechnology companies were located in the region Mannheim/Heidelberg (63), the region Freiburg/Offenburg/Lörrach (41) and the region Reutlingen/Tübingen (30). The two regions with the highest revenues were Donau-Iller (Biberach, Laupheim and Ulm) and Rhine-Neckar (Heidelberg, Mannheim).

The years 2020 to 2022 have impressively demonstrated, through the example of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, that medical biotechnology plays an important role in medical progress. While the pharmaceutical industry provides implementation and production process know-how, among other things, the mostly smaller, agile biotech companies or start-ups drive innovation in the sector.

In the last ten years, around 77 medical biotechnology companies have been founded in Baden-Württemberg. However, the number of new start-ups declined significantly in 2021. While there were still ten foundations in 2020, only five companies were founded in the years 2021 and 2022. The Corona pandemic poses major challenges for start-ups. Company founders are struggling with liquidity bottlenecks and the absence of financing rounds. The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism has reacted to this situation and is now promoting early-stage financing by expanding the "Start-up BW Pre-Seed" programme.