To date, more than half of the 58 GO-Bio projects have founded a business so far. Since 2005 an additional billion Euros investor funds have been acquired on top of the BMBF funding to implement the innovative ideas.

More than 650 applications for funding received

Since 2005, 655 research teams from university and non-university research institutions, clinics and companies have submitted their project outlines in seven GO-Bio rounds. Between five and twelve teams were chosen in each selection round. This means 50 GO-Bio projects in total, 17 of which are in the second funding phase (‘General Information’). The BMBF provides 15 to 30 million Euros for each funding round, which is vital financing, especially in the early stage of the projects. The next round of selection will be able to take place before the end of 2023, as the Federal Court of Auditors has stipulated that an evaluation of federal start-up and validation funding must first be carried out.

More than 720 applications received for top funding

Since 2005, a total of 723 research teams from university and non-university research institutions, hospitals and companies have submitted their project outlines in eight GO-Bio rounds. To date, between five and twelve teams have been selected for each round, resulting in a total of 57 GO-Bio projects. With a funding volume of 15 to 30 million euros per round, the BMBF provides substantial funding, particularly in the early phase of the projects.

Half of the GO-Bio projects are operating businesses

The success of the GO-Bio funding isn’t just clear by its great reputation, but also by the number of successful start-up companies it has produced. Over half of all GO-Bio projects have resulted in the foundation of a company or business activity. Several thousand employees are currently working in the start-ups and more than two billion Euros have been acquired by investors to mobilise corporate development. The successful follow-up financing of companies such as BioNTech, Corimmun, Ethris and Rigontec reflects the positive economic development of the projects. GO-Bio projects like IThera Medical and Dynamic Biosensors have received numerous innovation awards, demonstrating their innovative nature.

Half of the GO-Bio projects are operating businesses

The success of the GO-Bio funding isn’t just clear by its great reputation, but also by the number of successful start-up companies it has produced. Over half of all GO-Bio projects have resulted in the foundation of a company or business activity. Over 800 employees are currently working in the start-ups and over half a billion Euros have been acquired by investors to mobilise corporate development. The successful follow-up financing of companies such as BioNTech, Corimmun, Ethris and Rigontec reflects the positive economic development of the projects. GO-Bio projects like IThera Medical and Dynamic Biosensors have received numerous innovation awards, demonstrating their innovative nature.

A wide range of topics pays off

The contentional spectrum of the submitted project outlines is broad. It ranges from the development of new therapeutics and diagnostics for diseases like cancer, which are difficult to cure, to the development of new bio-analysis treatments and research on innovative chip or imaging technology. Half of all GO-Bio projects engage in medical biotechnology (red biotechnology), but also medical technology, platform technology and bioeconomy play a vital role (see infographics). The 34 medical-oriented projects cover different fields of indication: cancer and cardiovascular and contagious diseases are the most prominent ones.

Below you will find an overview of all previous GO-Bio projects:

8th selection round - 2018

Designer recombinases platform for precise genome surgery
Prof. Dr. Frank Buchholz, Technical University Dresden +  Eupheria Biotech GmbH

High-quality peptide combinations made from alternative agricultural waste for healthy nutrition
Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Danneel, Ostwestphalia-Lippe University of Applied Sciences

Gene therapy to fight epilepsy
Prof. Dr. Regine Heilbronn, Charité – Berlin University Hospital, Institute of Virology, Benjamin Franklin Campus

Aminolipine for formaldehyde-free fixing of biological materials
Prof. Dr. Bernhard Hirt, Institute for Clinical Anatomy and Cell Analysis, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

Anti-tick vaccine
Prof. Dr. Michael Hust, Braunschweig University of Technology

T-cell immunotherapy to fight blood cancers
Dr. Felix Lorenz, Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine, Berlin-Buch

New nano-sized carrier system for chemotherapeutics
Dr. Petar Marinković, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

Platform technology for highly parallel single-cell genetic analysis of tumour tissue
Dr. Johannes B. Woehrstein, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

7th selection round 2016

Hemibodies – a new antibody format for cancer immunotherapy
Dr. Thomas Bumm, University Hospital of Würzburg

Multispectral imaging technology for a new generation of surgical microscopes and endoscopes
Dr. Nikolaos Deliolanis, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

Predicting individual stroke risk with digital diagnostics
Dr. med. Dietmar Frey, Charité - University Medicine Berlin

A cancer vaccine for turning T cells into contract killers 
Prof. Dr. Richard Kroczek, Charité - University Medicine Berlin

A HIV protein to alleviate transplant rejection
Dr. Andrea Tüttenberg, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

6th selection round – 2014

Quicker development of strains for industrial biotechnology
Dr. Stephan Binder, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH

Boosting neurogenesis for the treatment of ALS
Prof. Dr. med. Ulrich Bogdahn, University Hospital Regensburg

Curing articular rheumatism with a custom immunotherapy
Prof. Dr. Harald Burkhardt, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME

Innovative adhesive for the effective removal of kidney stone fragments
Dr. Ingo Grunwald, Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Material Research (IFAM)

Optimised polyphenols: health-promoting substances from the bioreactor
Dr. Ulrich Rabausch, University of Hamburg

5th selection round – 2012

Gentle shocks to combat ventricular fibrillation: a new generation of defibrillators
Prof. Dr. Stefan Luther, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen

Vaccines from lactic yeast to combat viral diseases in chicken and cattle
Prof. Dr. Sven-Erik Behrens, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg

Slowing tumour growth with a therapeutic antibody
Markus Junker, University Women's Clinic Würzburg

A new strategy for disarming multiresistant hospital germs
Dr. Katrin Lorenz-Baath, Technical University of Munich

Reliable biomarker analyses for drug development
Dr. Oliver Pötz, University of Tübingen

4th selection round – 2011

Towards a vaccine for chronic infectious agents
Prof. Dr. Markus Gerhard, Technical University of Munich| ImevaX GmbH

Chip cytometry as a new technology for deep cell analysis
Dr. Christian Hennig, Hannover Medical School| ZELLKRAFTWERK GmbH

Intelligent siRNA molecules for cell-specific breast cancer therapy
Dr. Tobias Pöhlmann, Friedrich Schiller University Jena

Chip-based protein analyses with electrically-manoeuvred DNA molecules
Dr. Ulrich Rant, Technical University of Munich | Dynamic Biosensors GmbH

A new class of RNA biopharmaceuticals for regenerative medicine
PD Dr. Carsten Rudolph, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

Highly sensitive detection methods for clinically relevant protein biomarkers
Dr. Thole Züchner,  University of Leipzig

3rd selection round – 2009

New therapies on the basis of RNA molecules
Prof. Dr. Gunther Hartmann, University Hospital Bonn

Using biochips to analyse cell networks and test active substances
Philipp Julian Köster, University of Rostock

Genetic vaccines: New platform technology for improved efficacy
Dr. Florian Kreppel, University of Ulm

Multi-organ bioreactor in chip format
Prof. Roland Lauster, Technical University Berlin

Hearing the light from the body – the next generation of imaging
Prof. Vasilis Ntziachristos, Christian Wiest, Helmholtz Center Munich, iThera Medical GmbH

Immunotherapy to combat the hospital bug Staphylococcus aureus
PD Dr. Knut Ohlsen, University of Würzburg

2nd selection round - 2007

Molecular scissors for tackling HIV
Prof. Dr. Joachim Hauber, Department of Cell Biology and Virology, Heinrich Pette Institute (HPI) for Experimental Virology and Immunology, Hamburg

Development of a new class of drug for the prevention of organ damage in cardiac insufficiency and diabetes
Dr. Heiko Funke-Kaiser, Charité University Medicine Berlin

Equipping potatoes with resistance to fungal infestation
Dr. Dieter Peschen, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Aachen

Development of more effective antibodies against leukaemia and solid tumours
Dr. Ludger Große-Hovest, Gundram Jung, Center for Clinical Transfusion Medicine (ZKT), Tübingen; Synimmune GmbH

New active substances for activating or inhibiting AGC protein kinases
Dr. Ricardo M. Biondi, Goethe University Frankfurt

A biocatalysis reactor for the industrial-scale production of therapeutic siRNA molecules
Dr. Jacques Rohayem, Technical University Dresden (TUD), Riboxx GmbH, Radebeul
   
Chromobodies: Luminous mini-antibodies for active substance screening
Dr. Ulrich Rothbauer, Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Chromotek GmbH, Martinsried

Tracking down the security guards of the cell: New therapeutic approach for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases
PD Dr. Enno Klußmann, Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology (FMP), Berlin

Development of a blood purification method for the treatment of patients with acute myocardial infarction
Dr. Ahmed Sheriff, Charité University Medicine Berlin

Production of small RNA molecules for muting long non-coding RNAs
Prof. Dr. Frank Buchholz, Dresden University Hospital; Eupheria Biotech GmbH

1st selection round - 2006

Development of cancer drugs using combined methods of genome and drug screening
Dr. Michael Boutros, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Helmholtz Association, Heidelberg

New antibiotics against resistant pathogens
Prof. Dr. Dirk Bumann, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg

New means of isolating cells and particles for medicine and biotechnology
Dr. Jan-Michael Heinrich, cliMECS GmbH (now pluriSelect) in Leipzig

New therapeutic and diagnostic method for the treatment of autoimmune-related cardiac insufficiency
PD Dr. med. Roland Jahns, University Hospital of Würzburg; corimmun GmbH

Development of cancer drugs on the basis of highly effective small molecules
Joe Lewis, PhD, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) + German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) at the Helmholtz Association, Heidelberg; ELARA Pharmaceuticals GmbH

Nanobiotechnological approach to the production of biofunctional surfaces for medical products
Dr. Raquel Martin, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart

Neuroprosthesis for the restoration of mobility in people with severe paralysis
Dr. Carsten Mehring, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg

Development of innovative vaccines against cancer
Prof. Dr. med. Ugur Sahin, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz; BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals GmbH

New therapeutic approach for the preventive treatment of atherosclerotic diseases
PD Dr. Dorothea Siegel-Axel, University Clinic Tübingen

Determining the toxicity of active substances and chemicals
Dr. Igor Tetko, Helmholtz Centre Munich + eADMET GmbH, Oberschleißheim

Development of drugs for the treatment of Huntington’s and Alzheimer's
Prof. Dr. Erich Wanker, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin

Development of an innovative active substance for plant protection
Dr. Michael Weyand, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund