German chemical firms moving more research abroad, industry body warns
29/08/2024 10:55
FRANKFURT, Aug 29 (Reuters) - German chemical companies
are increasingly moving their research abroad due to lower
costs, less bureaucracy and better public funding programs
elsewhere, the industry body VCI warned on Thursday.
VCI, which represents almost two thousand companies in the
country's third-largest sector, said it expects research
spending to slowdown to 2% this year from 4% in 2023.
"High inland costs, poor earnings and worsening innovation
conditions are making it increasingly difficult to conduct
research in Germany," said Thomas Wessel, chairman of the
research committee at VCI.
The industry lobby expects hardly any increase in research
budgets in Germany this year and is forecasting rising
investments abroad.
One in three chemical companies conducting research outside
Germany intends to increase its research expenditure there, a
poll conducted by VCI showed.
The situation in the pharmaceutical industry, which VCI also
tracks, is somewhat better, the industry body said, adding that
it is seeing the first positive signs of the government's
strategy decisions.
Germany is still the world's fourth-largest site for
chemical research after the United States, China and Japan, but
is gradually losing ground due to higher energy prices and
widespread red tape.
(Reporting by Patricia Weiss in Frankfurt, writing by Andrey
Sychev in Gdansk, editing by Rachel More)
((andrey.sychev@thomsonreuters.com;))