FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The German chemical and pharmaceutical industry is likely to spend as much money on research and development in 2023 as it did last year, despite a drop in sales and production in the first six months. "The industry has not given up on Germany as a location," Thomas Wessel, VCI chairman of the Research, Science and Education Committee, said Wednesday, according to a statement. He added, however, that policymakers must reciprocate this signal with clear measures to ensure competitiveness, otherwise stagnation will be followed by a reduction in spending. Actually, the stagnating research budgets are a step backward, since many other industrialized nations are investing heavily in the field, he said. Without innovation, he said, there can be no safeguarding of the future.

According to Wessel, the industry has succeeded in recent years in compensating for Germany's locational disadvantage through innovative strength. "If we want to maintain this course, we must now turn on the turbo," he warned. In the meantime, almost 60 percent of all external research orders in the chemical-pharmaceutical industry went abroad. "If we do not invest sufficiently in new products, processes or new business models in this country, we will continue to lose competitiveness and increase deindustrialization," Wessel warned.

A recent member survey by the association shows that 23 percent of companies tend to invest more in research and development abroad in 2023. The chemical association justifies this development with the unfavorable framework conditions, such as above all excessive bureaucracy and regulation at the domestic research location. In this context, the association points to China. In just ten years, China's share of global patent applications for chemicals and pharmaceuticals has more than tripled.

Last year, companies in the sector spent around 14 billion euros on research and development./mne/mis