Italian Biotech Industry 2021

This update has been prepared by Assobiotec (National Association for the Development of Biotechnologies - part of Federchimica) in cooperation with ENEA (National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) and provides a brief overview of the biotech sector in Italy in 2021.

The work presents analysis and estimates based on information provided by the firms operating in the sector at the end of 2020, their 2019 financial statements, public data and data from the National Statistical System. The data, collected within the framework of the National Statistical Programme, will feed into the key biotechnology indicators produced by the OECD - Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, whose methodology is adopted in this study.

From accurate analysis, it is evident that biotechnologies are a sector with a continuous growth trend and with a total turnover volume of over 11 billion and over 13,000 employees

The number of companies at the end of 2020 is provisionally 721, but this information is underestimated because some biotech companies, especially those recently established, inevitably escape the survey conducted in 2020. The data are however in line with the past few years.

The turnover of Italian-capital companies specialized in biotechnological R&S, grew by 23% compared to the previous year, while investments in R&S intra-muros recorded an increase of 11.4% compared to 2020, and 46.7% compared to 2014 (first year of the historical series presented).

Over 80% of the sector is mainly composed of micro or small firms, while large and medium-sized firms represent respectively 9% and 11% of the entire population under analysis.

Human health is confirmed as the aim of application in which most of the biotech activities are concentrated, but the weight of biotechnological applications for Industry, Environment, Agriculture and Zootechnics is progressively increasing, contributing to innovation. in many industrial sectors, often “traditional”, in the direction of greater environmental sustainability.

Download The Italian Biotech Industry - Economic Update 2021