Given Covid-19, investor demand intensified for long, secure income streams during 2020, which has pushed the European life science sector to the forefront of buyers' wish-lists for this year and beyond.

Venture capital and private equity funding are key indicators to identify the main growing life science clusters throughout Europe, while government support and proximity to leading academic institutions is crucial to establishing a life science cluster in the first place.

Taking these points into account, here are the top three countries in Europe, after the UK, for occupiers of, and investors into, life science parks and buildings.

Switzerland

In 2019, Switzerland topped the Global Innovation Index, which is produced every year by a number of co-publishers including Cornell University.

Switzerland is a country founded on a stable political and economic environment, strong academic institutions and optimum collaboration between the public and private sector. The Swiss government has spent an average of 3 per cent of GDP on research and development (R&D) over the past five years. The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) allocates research funding and supports the domestic life science sector. The budget for 2021-2024 is approximately CHF4.60 billion (€4.29 billion), an increase of €500 million on the last period.

Locally based science companies are increasingly encouraging collaboration. For example, in June 2020, Novartis announced it is opening up its campus in Basel to external partners, including Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area, which will establish an additional office there.

Germany

Germany ranked 9th in the Global Innovation Index in 2019. The country's federal government has long supported scientific innovation and research, both domestically and in association with other nations. There are more than 1,000 publicly financed research institutions and 240 higher education institutions with eight universities in the Top 100 list, two of which are in Munich.

Germany's research and development (R&D) spend has more than doubled in the last 20 years and aims to reach 3.50 per cent of GDP by 2025. Recent expansions include BioNTech buying a facility in Marburg from Novartis to increase the vaccine production. The aim is to develop it into one of the largest mRNA manufacturing sites in Europe and it will be the third site in the BioNTech manufacturing network in Germany expected to produce BNT162 for global supply.

France

In 2019, France ranked 16th in the Global Innovation Index. France is a highly collaborative nation in terms of science programs with its largest partners being the US and EU, while domestically, over 2 per cent of GDP is spent on R&D. Through the Future Investments Programme (PIA) France has invested €45 billion since 2010 into higher education and research to harness innovation.

Corporate investment is creating new occupier demand within the bioscience industry. For example, Roche Pharmaceuticals signed for 11,000 sq m in 2019 in Paris IDF, while medical technology Medtronic leased 4,610 sq m in Paris IDF in 2020.

Further information

Contact Mike Barnes or George Coleman

Spotlight: Life Sciences - Trends & Outlook 2021

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Savills plc published this content on 26 January 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 26 January 2021 15:43:03 UTC