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The German biotechnology sector is growing. Altogether, around 27,000 people have jobs in the field of biotechnology. Biotechnology has become the basis and driving factor behind many applications in medicine, the food and feed industry and chemical industry. It is, for example, used in the production of medical drugs, for new diagnosis and therapy concepts, the production of fine chemicals, wastewater treatment processes or energy production from biomass. Different fields of application have different colours.

White or industrial biotechnology deals with the production of chemical base materials and end products. Biotechnology processes in medical applications, such as the development of new medical drugs, are called red biotechnology.

Green or plant biotechnology is used to produce plants that are better nutrient producers or renewable resources. Black biotechnology is already being discussed. It uses microorganisms as energy suppliers. Black symbolizes the still predominant energy sources of oil and coal.

The Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) established a specific funding framework for biotechnological research in Germany. At present, there are 25 different ongoing initiatives to financially support universities, research institutes, companies or individual researchers by specific measures. They target all players in the innovation value chain - from basic and applied research and clinics to start ups and companies. Furthermore, the BMBF guarantees institutional funding for the four research societies Max-Planck-Society,  Leibniz Association, Helmholtz Association and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, in which a wide range of researchers are working in biotechnology research.