Forschung: Chemie steckt Rekordgelder in Forschung - und fürchtet China

Die deutsche Chemie- und Pharmaindustrie has invested record amounts in research and development (R&D) and is warning about competition from Asia. In 2025, the industry's research budgets amounted to nearly 16 billion euros, according to the Chemists' Association VCI in Frankfurt. That is 0.2 percent more than in 2024 and nearly six billion euros more than in 2015, when around ten billion euros were spent on R&D.

Three-quarters of companies are developing new products and processes. "We have never invested more in research and development than in 2025," said Thomas Wessel, chairman of the VCI Research, Science and Education Committee. "But at the same time, the number of patents in the chemistry and pharmaceutical sector has been declining over recent years."

The share of the industry in worldwide patents has almost halved from 14 percent in 2010 to 7.6 percent in 2024. "Compared to other countries, the German location is falling further and further behind." Many companies are investing in research abroad. According to VCI, 29 percent of chemistry and pharmaceutical companies expect falling R&D expenditures in Germany, while only about one in five companies plan increasing budgets.

In contrast, 41 percent predict growing research budgets abroad. China, in particular, has a clear innovation strategy, warns the VCI. The share of China in worldwide patent filings in chemistry and pharmaceuticals has nearly quadrupled from 2010 to 2024, reaching nearly 19 percent, placing the country second after the USA, Japan, South Korea, and Germany.

In China, the transfer from research to market readiness is ensured and protected by intellectual property, explained Wessel. The chemistry and pharmaceutical industry traditionally spends a lot of money on research, roughly 47,000 people are employed in research laboratories across the sector, and more than 60 percent of R&D expenditures come from the pharmaceutical industry.