BioPark Regensburg gets Silver again

BioPark Regensburg GmbH, an enterprise of the City of Regensburg, is the management organization of the innovation cluster “BioRegion Regensburg”. The region in East Bavaria currently comprises over 60 companies and over 4,000 employees from the fields of the life sciences and healthcare (see figure 1). In 1996 it was one of the first bioregions in Germany and was also certified in 2011 as one of the first regions of the “European Cluster Excellence Initiative (ECEI) at German Cluster-platform “go-cluster".

The one-day audit was conducted by the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA). At its head ESCA has a European network of cluster experts, which use a three-level quality audit on analysis and assessment of network and cluster structures. Worldwide to date over 1,000 benchmarking interviews in accordance with ECEI criteria have been carried out in 43 countries with cluster management organizations. Here a total of 31 quality categories are qualitatively audited, for example on strategic implementation, cluster structure, financing and goals achieved to date.

In the analysis of the BioPark once again the consistent and sustainable development of the cluster was emphasized in particular. Also the audit of the strategic development of the cluster via regular location analyses was assessed very positively. This has led to the successful development of the cluster in the biotechnology and pharma industry from medical engineering, diagnostics and analytics to healthcare. Already in the early stages the cluster was also expanded with the so-called associated interdisciplinary companies from the fields of the paper, metal and glass industry. Parallel to this the facility management of the BioPark, which today comprises three buildings and the start-up and cooperation platform, has been expanded in a goal-oriented manner.

Likewise in the audit the current further development in the field of healthcare was also emphasized. “The last location analysis and the presentation of Regensburg Healthcare Masterplan based on this has given new momentum to our cluster”, explained BioPark CEO Dr. Thomas Diefenthal. “The award underlines the very good work of the BioPark team and is also representative for all of the stakeholders in the entire Regensburg Bioregion”, said Diefenthal. “Without the high commitment and cooperative input of cluster partners, the success of BioPark Regensburg GmbH would not have been possible”, added Prof. Dr. Georg Stephan Barfuss, Councilor for Economic, Financial and Research Affairs for the City of Regensburg.

 

The Regensburg Region is a “hot-spot” of innovative cluster politics. Currently there are four clusters certified with the ECEI Silver Label located here in both the municipal Technology and Start-Up Centers at BioPark and TechBase (see figure 2). Furthermore business funding of the City of Regensburg supports further network activities and thereby further potential candidates for the ECEI.