According to a survey conducted by the VAA (Verband angestellter Akademiker und leitender Angestellter der chemischen Industrie e.V.) and DECHEMA, the future prospects of the chemical-pharmaceutical industry in Germany are extremely bleak under the current industrial policy framework conditions. Specialists and managers from companies and research institutions in the sector were surveyed on this topic.
Survey assesses the importance of location factors
On the other hand, the high quality of training and the proximity between companies and science in technology development give hope. The survey on Germany as a chemical and pharmaceutical location was conducted in December 2023 among more than 1,400 members of the VAA and the DECHEMA Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology who work as specialists and managers in companies and research institutions in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Representatives of both associations are calling for a radical change of course in industrial policy.
As part of the survey, VAA and DECHEMA members assessed, among other things, the importance of a total of 17 location factors for the continued existence of jobs. The most important influencing factors cited were the level of energy prices, the level of training and the availability of skilled labour as well as the stability of the industrial policy framework and the availability of raw materials.
Energy prices and authorisation procedures are the biggest obstacles
The level of energy prices is also the location factor to which the survey participants attribute the most negative influence on the continued existence of jobs. The duration and complexity of authorisation procedures for the construction of new production facilities and state administrative procedures as a whole were also weighted highly and rated particularly critically. On the other hand, the participants see the efficiency of the existing production infrastructure and the proximity to scientific institutions as having a positive influence.
In view of the survey results, VAA 2nd Chairman Dr Christoph Gürtler is calling on political decision-makers to radically change course in terms of industrial policy: "If Germany is to remain a chemical and pharmaceutical location with its highly efficient value chains, energy prices must be reliably capped at an internationally competitive level and the much-vaunted measures to reduce bureaucracy must finally be implemented." This applies more than ever against the backdrop of the reduction in highly qualified industrial jobs already announced by a number of chemical and pharmaceutical companies.
German chemical industry has international strengths and weaknesses
The survey participants see strengths and weaknesses in the positioning of the German chemical and pharmaceutical industry in international competition: Around half of the respondents rated training as very good or rather good in comparison, while one third rated openness to technology as very good. In contrast, only 13% of respondents rated society's openness to technology as good.
DECHEMA Executive Director Dr Andreas Förster: "Germany is a world leader in research and development in chemistry, chemical engineering and biotechnology and we have very good networking between science and industry in the technical sciences. We must utilise this potential to develop solutions for global challenges and thus also strengthen Germany as a technology location."
Further information can be found at www.vaa.de and www.dechema.de.
