Bayer has announced a plan to invest EUR 1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) to expand manufacturing and research and development in its Pharmaceuticals Division in Germany. The plan is part of what the company is calling its “Future Concept Germany,” a company-wide investment and employment growth plan for its sites from 2025 onwards. The planned investments include the establishment of competence centers for innovative research methods and digital technologies, the modernization of production facilities, and more networking with universities and start-ups.

Bayer’s Pharmaceutical Division is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, and is based at four major locations in Germany. The company plans to invest more than EUR 1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) in its pharmaceutical production sites in Germany (in Bergkamen, Berlin, Leverkusen, Weimar and Wuppertal) in technologies, new production facilities, and digitalization in the coming years (as reported on March 3, 2022). The company says it will also continue to invest in the expansion and development of artificial intelligence (AI), data science, and multi-channel marketing and to further partner with scientific institutions, technology networks, and start-ups.

The company says that it envisages that the majority of its workforce in research and development will continue to be based in Germany, with a “significant” part of new hires planned by 2025 taking place in Germany. The company’s focus is on growth areas such as biotechnology, especially cell and gene therapy, and data science. The company’s research locations in Berlin and Wuppertal are also being modernized and expanded.

In addition to investment in its Pharmaceutical Division, Bayer is further investing in a “creative hub” in Germany for its Consumer Health Division. By 2025, the company says Germany will become the European hub of the division in ​​eCommerce. In addition, Bayer says it will continue to invest in its German sites in Bitterfeld, Darmstadt, and Grenzach. Key investments of EUR 120 million ($130 million) over the next four years (as reported on March 3, 2022) will be in the areas of digitalization, smart factory technologies, and employee training.

Additionally, Bayer say it will continue to focus on new technologies and digital transformation. As a concrete measure, Bayer plans to establish a Digital Innovation Center in Germany in 2022 with application across is three divisions: Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, and Crop Science. The first focus of the center will be the development and application of advanced AI technologies and the further development of robot-supported process automation.

Source: Bayer