Red Biotechnology Between Innovation and Ethics. Human Embryo Editing

Seminar paper from the year 2025 in the subject Economics - Innovation economics, grade: 1,0, University of Hohenheim (Economics), course: Master Seminar in Innovation Economics, language: English, abstract: Red biotechnology, often described as medical biotechnology, represents one of the most transformative areas of modern science and healthcare. It encompasses the development of biopharmaceuticals, gene therapies, and personalized medicine strategies that are reshaping treatment approaches for numerous diseases. This seminar paper aims to examine the relationship of ethical public concerns and their influence on innovation in these fields The global biotechnology sector has experienced rapid growth, driven by advances in molecular biology, genetic engineering, and bioinformatics. Despite its enormous potential, red biotechnology also faces considerable challenges such as high research and development costs, ethical and regulatory complexity, and unequal access to advanced therapies. This paper also aims to examine whether there's a correlation between the ethical acceptance of human embryo genome editing, trust in regulatory institutions, and the benefit perception. This relationship is investigated among 109 medicine students at the University of Ulm through a quantitative survey. Core questions in the survey were whether they are willing to use techniques of gene editing and especially gene editing of embryos. This was tested under different risk factors. Finally, all participants were asked an open question about what they perceive as the biggest problem with human embryo gene editing.