During a two-day visit from April 25 to 26 to Serbia, Dr. Yin Ye, CEO of BGI Group, signed memoranda of cooperation with the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, and the Ministry of Health, on scientific research, industry development, public health, and precision testing, and established partnership with the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Electric Engineering, with the intention of providing scholarships and internships for Serbian students to study and research in China.

Jelena Begović, Minister of Science and Technology Development and Innovation of Serbia, met with Yin Ye and his delegation, noting that she welcomed BGI’s local research team and BGI’s presence in Serbia’s BIO4 Life Science Park. 

On behalf of BGI Group, Yin Ye signed a cooperation memorandum with Minister Begovic. The memorandum aims to implement the decisions reached during the meeting between BGI Group Chairman and Co-Founder Wang Jian and Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić last November, and will further strengthen the fields of bioinformatics, spatio-temporal omics, synthetic biology, and initiate cooperation in fields such as new medical diagnostic technologies.

Yin Ye, CEO of BGI Group (left), signed a memorandum of cooperation with Jelena Begović, Minister of Science and Technology Development and Innovation of Serbia.

Yin Ye also met with Danica Grujičić, Minister of Health of Serbia, who welcomed the support BGI has provided in the past three years in the areas of public health, disease diagnosis, monitoring and prevention. The two parties signed a memorandum of cooperation where BGI and Serbia will establish partnership to promote the application of genomics testing in the local clinical field and jointly carry out public health projects such as cancer screening and prevention.

BGI executive signed a memorandum of cooperation with Danica Grujičić, Minister of Health of Serbia (right).

During this trip, Yin Ye also visited the University of Belgrade. Dejan Gvozdić, Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Belgrade, together with Dragan Olćan and Jelena Ćertić, Deputy Deans, expressed their hope for joint training programs with BGI Group in the future for interdisciplinary, innovative research and talent development.

Yin Ye, CEO of BGI Group (fourth from right), visited the University of Belgrade.

The University of Belgrade was established in 1863 and is the oldest and most important higher education institution in Serbia and one of the largest universities in the Balkan Peninsula with more than 4,800 teachers and 90,000 students.

Yin Ye gave a lecture on "From the Human Genome Project to the Spatiotemporal Omics Consortium" to the teachers and students at the University of Belgrade. Starting from paying tribute to the Serbian physicist and inventor Nikola Tesla, he expressed his respect for the Serbian nation. He introduced BGI Group’s breakthrough research progress in the field of life sciences, and expounded the original intention and process of BGI's "Omics for All".

Yin Ye gave a lecture to the teachers and students at the University of Belgrade.

Dr. Xiao Minfeng, Deputy Dean of BGI College, introduced in detail how BGI College cooperates with universities to undertake talent training, and welcomed students from the University of Belgrade to come to BGI Group for study and internship. Dr. Li Junhua, Head of BGI Group’s Serbian team, explained BGI’s business plan in Serbia, introduced the internship opportunities open to Serbian students, and how BGI provides scholarships for Serbian students.

BGI Group looks forward to carrying out further cooperation with Serbia to promote Serbian life sciences and technology research and industrial development, improving the health and well-being of the Serbian people, and enhancing cooperation between China and Serbia.