The Burgdorf-based medical technology company Ypsomed received 100,000 euros in state subsidies for each of the almost 80 jobs created. For the payer, the federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the calculation is unlikely to add up. It only subsidizes highly automated industrial jobs.
An employee of the medical technology company Ypsomed AG checks injection systems for the self-administration of medication by the patient.
Many company bosses only talk about it behind closed doors, even if they are happy to claim state subsidies. Not so the CEO of the Burgdorf-based medical technology company Ypsomed, Simon Michel, who announced the construction of the company’s first factory in China this week: “We are going to a city where the carpet is still being rolled out for us,” he said. According to him, the town of Jintan, which is located in the hinterland of Shanghai, will show its appreciation with various tax benefits or in the development of the new building.
Ypsomed already has experience with state subsidies from Germany. In August 2019, Ypsomed opened a factory in Schwerin which, like the planned factory in China, will be used to manufacture injection systems for medicines administered in liquid form. With this location in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Ypsomed also chose a rather structurally weak region away from large centers.
Unlike in the case of the Chinese factory, it is already known how much money Ypsomed received from the state in Schwerin. The state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has so far transferred 7.7 million euros and has thus paid 100,000 euros for each of the 77 jobs currently available in the plant. That is a handsome sum, even if, according to Ypsomed, the workforce should double to 150 when the factory is fully expanded. Almost three years ago, however, it was still said that they would around 200 positions created.
That’s the thing with industrial jobs. Because automation is constantly advancing, fewer and fewer workers are required. After all, Ypsomed in Schwerin hasn’t been stingy either. To date, the company has invested around 120 million Swiss francs from its own funds – primarily for the procurement of state-of-the-art production facilities.