Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

To keep our high standard of living, our safety and future viability, Europe needs to be at the forefront of technological innovation and the EU must become world leading in research and innovation. These are the guiding principles to this report. Europe cannot succeed with its ambitions on competitiveness, decarbonisation and economic resilience without acknowledging the crucial role played by the EU’s biotechnology and biomanufacturing sector. This fascinating new science and technology transcends different industrial sectors and is based on the use of and work with living organisms, of the force of nature. It does not only enable ground-breaking innovations and manufacturing processes, it is of strategic importance in several different areas such as sustainability, economic security, food security and public health.

The growth potential of the biotechnology and biomanufacturing industry is immense and the productivity of the sector very high. The aim of this report is to shed light on the existing bottlenecks and to provide recommendations to support the industry to reach its full potential. As European lawmakers, we insist on the fact new regulation needs to be duly justified and globally connectable. The biotechnology and biomanufacturing sector encounters the general problems of other new sectors like the lack of transfer of academic knowledge to the market, insufficient access to capital and incoherent, outdated or inappropriate regulation and feedstock security. The biggest hurdle is the length of authorisation procedures in the EU giving away early-adapter advantages to competitors. There is high need to take into account the specificities of the sector also with regard to security and citizen involvement, biotechnology in terms of regulation presents a showcase for further testing regulatory sandboxes. To ensure full focus, better coordination and detectable improvements for European biotechnology and biomanufacturing companies, the creation of a Chief Biotechnology Officer in the European Commission is recommended.