The Baden-Württemberg healthcare industry
At a glance
The Baden-Württemberg healthcare industry – a recession-proof employer that has strong ties with the region - is of key importance for the state. It comprises the biotechnology and medical technology sectors and the pharmaceutical industry. In 2019, the industry with 98,619 employees generated revenues of over 25 billion euros.
The Healthcare Industry in Baden-Württemberg is strongly represented with 1,094 companies* that research, develop and/or manufacture here. In terms of the number of companies or employees, the state is the no. 1 Healthcare Industry location in Germany1/2/3. Baden-Württemberg's characteristic mix of small, medium-sized and large companies guarantees the stability of the region’s healthcare industry. Labour productivity figures and the number of skilled jobs also reflect stability and innovative capability.
193 health-related start-ups were founded in Baden-Württemberg between 2010 and 7/2021, 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. One of the focal points of the CyberValley as a digitalisation hub, for example, is the Healthcare Industry.
In addition to the major challenges facing the healthcare system, such as rising cost pressure and the shortage of skilled workers, the increasing number of multimorbid, chronically ill patients and the public’s heightened health awareness has huge potential for increased sales and high employment. This is also reflected in the gross value added of the Healthcare Industry in Baden-Württemberg, which amounted to around 18.2 billion euros in 2019. In 2019, about 215.000 people were employed in the industrial healthcare sector in Baden-Württemberg4.
Investment in research and development (R&D) is needed in order to generate innovation. Baden-Württemberg is well positioned in this area as shown by the figures on R&D intensity collected in an EU-wide comparison by the Baden-Württemberg Statistics Office. Here, Baden-Württemberg comes out top across all sectors as the most innovative region in terms of invested nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in R&D (5.6 percent of nominal GDP)55,6. As regards the number of patent applications, Baden-Württemberg also takes first place with 13,687 applications in 2020, followed by Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia7. With an export contribution of 38.8 billion euros, Baden-Württemberg’s healthcare industry is the leading exporter among the federal states of Germany. These are 94.9 percent of all exports of the healthcare sector in Baden-Württemberg.4
In general, the Healthcare Industry has proven itself to be an innovative and relatively independent driver of economic growth.