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(27%) are large companies (eight of them employ between 250-500 people and the remaining 18 employ above 500 people). These 97 enterprises make up just over 5% of the number of biotechnology companies identified in the 2013 industry report. Therefore, we can assume that 90100 private companies would be a fair estimate on the number of companies while we understand that these assumptions build on a limited number of publicly available sector information and are further constrained by the differing interpretation of sector boundaries. Based on this information, and assuming that the majority (up to 75%) of individual companies active in the Blue Biotechnology sector have been identified, we have continued using the database to estimate the number of employees for SMEs (based on the EU definition of small and medium sized enterprises and using the maximum and minimum ranges of number of employees). In order to estimate the lowest number of employees in the sector the number of companies has been multiplied by the lowest number of possible employees in their category; for example, in the case of companies with less than 250 people a minimum estimate average of five employees has been used. In order to estimate the maximum number of employees the number of companies has been multiplied with the highest number of possible employees in their category; for example, in the case of companies with over 500 employees we conducted calculations with a maximum estimate of 1 000 people. Table 3.3 Employment estimation for Blue Biotechnology Number of enterprises Size of company 71 8 18 Total <250 people 250-500 >500 people Minimum number of employees 355 2,000 9,000 11,355 Maximum number of employees 17,750 4,000 18,000 39,750 Assuming that the identified 97 enterprises are representative (in at least 75%) of the size of the EU Blue Biotechnology sector we have found that the number of employees could range from around 11 355 to 39 750 people37, as shown in Table 3.3. We understand that the range provided to reflect the number of employees in the sector is rather large which is due to the fact that data and information regarding the number and size of the companies (including the share of the workforce at multinationals relevant for Blue Biotechnology) is limited. On the basis of this order of magnitude, Blue Biotechnology is unlikely to provide mass employment in Europe – at least in the short- to medium term. Basically, the key people involved are groups of specialised, highly trained, researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs. The jobs, however, are high end jobs filled by people who were expensive to train. The main economic contribution is likely to be from the value added derived from these attributes and intellectual property rights. In addition, as with sector value, the Global Industry Analysts figures indicate a growth rate of 5-15% with a most probable global value to USD 4.8 billion by 2018. Data on Blue Biotechnology employment is not yet collected making determining employment within the sector difficult. The OECD is, once more, very circumspect in its search for such indicators. There are the researchers in the public sector Research and Development facilities and those working on the development of marine genetic products in SMEs, but even these specialists may also be working on non-biotechnological themes. Once taken up by a large commercialising company the marine genetic product could just be one of a number of product lines serviced by the same staff. Nevertheless, while the new marine products may or may not create new jobs but they 37 These figures have been discussed with stakeholders at the international stakeholder workshop. It is understood that there is no EU level data available regarding the number of employees within the Blue Biotechnology sector. Study in support of Impact Assessment work on Blue Biotechnology 19

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