After four decades at the intersection of science, industry, and strategy — from the DKFZ bench to 14 years in pharma R&D to two decades writing the EY Biotech Report — Dr. Siegfried Bialojan has watched German biotech ask the same question for 25 years: why doesn't the money show up? In this episode, he explains why Germany has never built a venture capital culture, the Strüngmann bet on BioNTech that nobody else would take, and the uncomfortable pattern of German innovation being acquired by foreign capital before it ever reaches the market.
Dr. Siegfried Bialojan is the former Executive Director of the EY Life Sciences Center in Mannheim and the author of the German EY Biotech Report, the most cited annual snapshot of the German biotech industry. Trained in molecular biology and medicine, he spent 14 years in pharma R&D at BASF (including the lab next door to where Humira was discovered) before joining EY in 2001 to build its life sciences practice — what he calls his ”yellow parrot” years as a scientist among economists.
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Siegfried explains:◼️ Why Germany has the science but not the mindset — ”no risk, no fun” and the cultural gap that keeps capital out of biotech◼️ The Strüngmann bet on BioNTech: how a single private family office took the mRNA risk that no VC or pharma would touch, and why that example should reshape how Germany thinks about early funding◼️ The Baden-Württemberg leverage model — two euros of state money for every private euro — and why it actually moves the needle on early-stage risk◼️ Why German innovation keeps getting acquired before it reaches the market (Tubulis is the latest), and what the country loses each time it happens◼️ Career advice from someone who pivoted three times: don't wait for job boards, talk to people directly, and carry your competence forward rather than starting from scratch
00:00 Welcome to Transcribed00:48 Inside EY: From Audit Firm to Biotech Thought Leader01:19 The ”Yellow Parrot” Years — A Scientist Among Economists05:31 Building the EY Life Sciences Center in Mannheim08:11 Before Google: How to Collect Biotech Data via Questionnaires10:14 From the DKFZ Bench to BASF — Why He Left Academia12:55 The BASF–Abbott Sale and the Humira Lab Next Door14:33 Spotting Career Opportunities: Bring Your Competence Forward17:48 Advice for Scientists Moving from Academia to Industry22:00 Why Direct Outreach Beats 200 Job Applications24:00 Learning Finance as a Scientist Inside EY25:24 Two Decades of Biotech Reports: Why the Same Problems Keep Coming Back27:00 The Risk-Taking Gap — Why Germany Doesn't Own Stocks32:00 The Strüngmann Bet on BioNTech: When Private Money Beats VC36:33 Where the Money Is Really Needed (and Why VCs Show Up Too Late)39:30 The Baden-Württemberg Model — Leveraging Private Money with State Money43:00 The 1% Pension Fund Idea: What Switzerland Did and Germany Didn't45:39 Germany vs US vs China — Where the Money (and the Exits) Go48:00 Tubulis and the German Innovation Drain50:00 Advice to Young Biotech Scientists Today51:13 Closing
Follow Siegfried:LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/siegfried-bialojan-64958113/
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