This year’s International Conference Biotech Future Forum 2023, #BioTechBEG23 will be organized on October 19-20, 2023, at the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade. The conference will cover a wide range of topics from the fields of biotechnology, bioinformatics, and bioengineering. Additionally, it will introduce the field of green biotech, dedicated to identifying sustainable solutions and innovations, ultimately steering us towards a greener and environmentally conscious future. The forum will gather over 600 participants and speakers from over 30 countries around the world.
19 Oct Thursday
08:00 – 09:00
Registration
09:00 – 09:30
Opening ceremony
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- Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Serbia
- Mirek Dušek, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum
- Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation, and Development (OECD)
- Achim Steiner, Administrator of the UNDP – video message
09:30 – 10:30
A Biotech Future for All: Government Strategies for Biotech Innovation
Moderator: Walter Pasquarelli, Tech & Society Manager at The Economist
- Jelena Begović, Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, Republic of Serbia
- Ami Appelbaum, Chief Innovation Scientist at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology and the Chairman of the Board of the Israel Innovation Authority (Israel)
10:30 – 11:00
Break
10:30 – 11:00
First Guided Tour of the Startup Exhibition
11:00 – 12:15
Engineering a Healthier tomorrow
Moderator & Keynote: Prof. Milica Radišić, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Functional Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering, University of Toronto
- Katja Schenke-Layland, Professor of Medical Technologies and Regenerative Medicine, at the University of Tübingen
- Jeffrey Karp, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
- Peter Loskill, Professor for Organ-on-Chip-Research at the University of Tübingen & Vice-Chair of the European-Organ-on-Chip-Society
- Sabeth Verpoorte, Professor of Pharmaceutical Analysis at University of Groningen
11:00 – 12:15
BIO4 Campus: From research to innovation
Moderator: Nenad Paunović, Director of the Information Technologies and Entrepreneurship team in the Office of the Prime Minister of Serbia
- Ana Janić, Laboratory Head, Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain)
- Milenko Cicmil, Venture Partner, Cure Ventures (US)
- Milan Mrksich, Vice President for Research at Northwestern University (US)
11:00 – 11:30
Green Showroom: Biotech for Sustainable Future
Host & Keynote: Prof. Vladimir Crnojević, Director of the BioSense Institute
11:30 – 12:15
Panel discussion: Solutions for the Sustainable Future
- Jelena Begović, Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, Republic of Serbia
- Dragan Lončar, Full Professor and Associate Dean at the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade
12:15 – 13:30
Lunch break
12:15 – 13:30
Startup Exhibiton Open Doors
13:30 – 14:00
Keynote talk
- Dr. Timothy Lu, Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Co-Founder & CEO of SentiBio
13:30 – 14:00
Break
14:00 – 15:15
Data & AI: Accelerating Biotechnology’s Potential
Moderator: Dr. Branka Rakić, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Serbia
- Guruduth Banavar, CTO and Head of Discovery AI at Viome – video message (USA)
- Alex Aliper, President of Insilico Medicine (USA)
- Miroslava Cuperlovic-Culf, Senior Research Officer of National Research Council Canada (Canada)
- Lu Zheng, Head of Value Based Partnerships and Digital Health, Europe & Canada (Switzerland)
14:00 – 15:15
Unleashing the Potential of Genetic Medicine
Moderator & Keynote: Jelena Bojović, Director of the C4IR Serbia & Program Director in NALED
- Said Ismail, Director of the Qatar Genome Programme (Qatar)
- Mark Bale, External advisor in genomics and bioethics (UK)
- Yang YE, Deputy Director General at Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (China)
- Branka Zukić, Full Research Professor, Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade
14:00 – 14:15
Book presentation: ‘Proximity’ by Prof. Robert C. Wolcott, Co-founder and Chair of The World Innovation Network (TWIN Global)
14:15 – 15:15
Panel discussion: The Role of Science and Innovation in Sustainable Agriculture, Environment and Energy
- Dr. Jelena Begović, Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology Development of Serbia
- Dubravka Đedović, Minister of Mining and Energy of Serbia
- Irena Vujović, Minister of Environmental Protection of Serbia
- Jelena Tanasković, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of Serbia
15:15 – 16:15
Bridging Borders: Serbia’s Biotechnology Footprint
Moderator: Prof. Robert Wolcott, Co-founder, and Chair of The World Innovation Network (TWIN Global)
- Nikola Novčić, Director, Portfolio Strategy and Ops at Quell Therapeutics (UK)
- Zoran Obradović, Distinguished Professor and a Center director at Temple University (USA)
- Nataša Skoko, Head of Biotech Development Unit at ICGEB (Italy)
- Staša Stanković, Strategy Consultant, Genomics for Drug Discovery, AstraZeneca (UK)
- Vladimir Brusić, Professor in Computer Science at University of Nottingham Ningbo (China)
15:00 – 16:15
Second Guided Tour of the Startup Exhibition
Tour Team: Ana Mitić Radulović, Project Coordinator for Circular Economy, UNDP & Uroš Anđelković, Project Management Officer, NALED
Startups that participated in the exhibition:
Information will be available soon
16:15 – 16:45
Keynote talk
Dr. Reshma Shetty, Co-Founder, Ginkgo Bioworks
16:45 – 17:00
Closing remarks: C4IR Serbia & World Economic Forum
17:00 – 18:00
Networking Cocktail
20 Oct Friday
09:00 – 09:30
Registration
09:30 – 11:00
GA4GH Community meeting (By invitation only)
- Chair: Dr. Thomas Keane, Team Leader for the European Genome Phenome Archive (EGA) and the European Variation Archive (EVA) at EMBL-EBI
11:00 – 12:30
WEF Bioeconomy Workshop (By invitation only)
- Chair: Brynne Stanton, Thematic Lead in Bioeconomy, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, World Economic Forum
12:30 – 13:30
Lunch