Biotech: 40% of turnover from healthcare, full steam ahead on precision medicine

The Italian biotech market in 2024 counts 5,869 companies (+5%) with a strong presence of micro and small enterprises (89%), with a significant concentration in Northern Italy (47%), followed by the South and Islands (28%) and the Centre (25%), and an estimated turnover of 53.4 billion (+5% compared to 2023). This was revealed in the new Report 'Biotech in Italy 2025. Numbers, stories and trends" produced by Assobiotec-Federchimica in collaboration with the Digital Innovation Observatories of the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano.

The sector shows a strong sectorial heterogeneity: the majority of companies (65%) are active in the agro-food and zootechnical sector with over € 27 billion in revenues, while the highest average turnover per company is in the biomedical and health sector with 7% of companies and € 20.8 billion; industrial and environmental sector closes with over € 5 billion. Employment also shows a positive sign: in 2024 the number of biotech employees in Italy will be 102,565, up by 4%.

According to Fabrizio Greco, President of Assobiotec-Federchimica, "for the first time, the sector has a scientifically sound representation of the biotech presence in the country, both in its more traditional component, which is particularly relevant in agricultural and industrial applications, and in its more innovative one, which emerges strongly in the biomedical and health fields and which alone generates around 40% of the national biotech turnover". The hope is that this up-to-date picture "will support institutions, companies and the scientific community in enhancing and supporting a sector capable of profoundly influencing the competitiveness, sustainability and innovative capacity of the country, now finally at the centre of the European strategy with the EU Biotech Act, soon to be published".

Among the drivers that are shaping the future of biotech, according to Chiara Sgarbossa, director of the Osservatori Sanità Digitale e Life Science Innovation, School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano, 'precision medicine, biosolutions, precision fermentation, assisted evolution techniques and bioconversion stand out, reflecting the innovation trajectories already undertaken by start-ups and innovative SMEs and pointing in the direction of an increasingly sustainable, integrated and competitive sector'.

The report includes a focus on national biotech start-ups and innovative SMEs. The main data show the presence of 559 companies, up from the previous year. Although they represent a minority of the total, they play a crucial role in technological advancement, with a strong propensity for research, deep-tech development and collaboration between universities, research centres and companies. The analysis also shows how biotech entrepreneurship in Italy is strongly linked to technology transfer and collaboration between companies, universities and research bodies, highlighting the importance of incubators, accelerators and venture capital funds in supporting the sector's growth.