The main competencies of Estonian biotechnology

Nowadays the main competences of Estonian biotechnology lie in medical biotechnology. Key areas in biotechnology research in Estonia are:

• Biomarkers
• Genomics
• Personalized medicine
• Stem cells
• Nanoparticles

There are many advantages of the biotechnology sector in Estonia: the state supports R&D and innovation; the economic environment in Estonia is generally liberal and favourable towards entrepreneurship; biotechnology-related legislation is well-established and harmonized with EU legislation.

The sector offers a good scientific foundation and a large network of contacts, mainly with the Scandinavian region.

The benefits also come from good quality labour force – over the past few years there has been a trend of scientists repatriating; and approximately 500 graduates with relevant education enter the labour market every year.

The companies

There are approximately 100 Estonian companies, employing over field of biotechnology. Most of the companies are located in Tartu. Among the current tenants at Tartu Biotechnology Park, co-host of ScanBalt Forum 2017, are for example:

• OÜ TBD-Biodiscovery
• The Competence Centre on Health Technologies
• Qvalitas Arstikeskus AS
• Upstream OÜ
• OÜ Hansa Medical
• Estigen OÜ
• Probiotech OÜ
• Inbio OÜ
• OÜ Katriito
• Concise Systems OÜ
• GPE Globalpharma OÜ

This article is based on “Implementation plan of technology transfer in biotechnology”, Tartu Biotechnology Park 2014.