Biotech Future Forum

About the Forum
BioTechBEG23
BioTechBEG22

The international conference Biotech Future Forum is a national initiative that covers all areas of everyday life strongly influenced by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and biotechnology, and involves key government, business, scientific, and international stakeholders in Serbia. The project aims to enhance access to AI and biotech and their benefits for both the broader public and professionals within the country, in the region and beyond, in line with global trends in these fields.

This collaborative initiative was launched in 2022 by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and its Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in cooperation with the World Economic Forum and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Special support for the organization of the Forum is provided by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications of Serbia and BIO4 Campus, a new bioeconomic hub in Europe.

Since 2022, the Forum has become a regular annual event in Belgrade, bringing together global policymakers, industry leaders, scientists, researchers, and enthusiasts in these fields. Over the past two years, we’ve attracted over 1,500 participants and welcomed over 100 speakers and moderators from around the globe to discuss global trends in digital and biotech transformation and highlight Serbia’s contributions and tech innovations. Through the exchange of knowledge and experiences, as well as networking, participants will gain new insights into the topics discussed and create opportunities for collaboration.

In October 2024, the third conference is planned, officially titled „AI_4_LIFE: Biotech Future Forum“. Explore more about this year’s conference by clicking the link: HERE.

The third Biotech Future Forum will be held in October 2024, in Belgrade.

Biotech Future Forum 2023: Recap

Biotech Future Forum 2022: Recap

Launch of the C4IR Serbia

If you want to know more about the Forum, contact our team via email address: biotechff@gov.rs

The second international conference, Biotech Future Forum 2023, #BioTechBEG23, took place on October 19-20, 2023, at the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade. The extensive conference program featured over 600 participants and 50 speakers and moderators from around the world. In addition to technological innovations, digitalization, biotechnology, and AI, we introduced a new topic – green technologies and sustainable growth – within this year’s conference program.

The conference was organized by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and its Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and UNDP, and with the support of BIO4 Campus. Furthermore, our esteemed partners this year were NALED, StarTech, the UK Embassy in Serbia, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk.

19 Oct Thursday

08:00 – 09:00

Registration

09:00 – 09:30

Opening ceremony

Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister, Government of the Republic of Serbia
Mirek Dušek, Managing Director, World Economic Forum
Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation, and Development (OECD)
Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – video message

09:30 – 10:00

The Crucial Role of Governments in BioTech Innovation

Moderator: Walter Pasquarelli, Advisor on tech policy

Dr. Jelena Begović, Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, Republic of Serbia
H.E. Mohamed Bin Taliah, Chief of Government Services of the United Arab Emirates Government (UAE)

10:00 – 10:30

Investing in BioTech Innovation for Discoveries

Moderator: Walter Pasquarelli, Advisor on tech policy

Dr. Ivan Rakonjac, Managing Director of the Innovation Fund of Serbia
Dr. Ami Appelbaum, Chief Innovation Scientist at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology and the Chairman of the Board of the Israel Innovation Authority

10:30 – 11:00

Break

10:30 – 11:00

First Guided Tour of the Startup Exhibition

11:00 – 12:15

BIO4 Campus: From research to innovation

Moderator: Nenad Paunović, Director of the Information Technologies and Entrepreneurship team, Office of the Prime Minister of Serbia

Dr. Ana Janić, Laboratory Head, Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain)
Dr Milenko Cicmil, CEO of Tasca Therapeutics and Venture partner, Cure Ventures (US)
Prof. Milan Mrksich, Vice President for Research, Northwestern University (US)
Igor Printsev, Delivery Director, EPAM Systems (Serbia)

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

Prof. Jeffrey Karp, Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School (US) – video presentation
Prof. Katja Schenke-Layland, Professor of Medical Technologies and Regenerative Medicine, University of Tübingen (Germany)
Prof. Peter Loskill, Professor for Organ-on-Chip-Research, University of Tübingen (Germany)
Prof. Sabeth Verpoorte, Professor of Pharmaceutical Analysis, University of Groningen (Netherlands)

11:00 – 11:30

Green Showroom: Biotech for Sustainable Future

Host & Keynote: Prof. Vladimir Crnojević, Director, BioSense Institute in Serbia

11:30 – 12:15

Panel discussion: Solutions for the Sustainable Future

Dr. Jelena Begović, Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, Republic of Serbia
Dr. Dragan Lončar, Full Professor and Associate Dean at the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade

12:15 – 13:30

Family photo & Lunch

12:15 – 13:30

Startup Exhibiton Open Doors

13:30 – 14:00

Keynote talk

Prof. Timothy Lu, Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) & Co-Founder and CEO, Senti Biosciences (US)

13:30 – 14:00

Break

14:00 – 15:15

Data & AI: Accelerating Biotechnology’s Potential

Moderator: Dr. Branka Rakić, Senior Researcher, Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Serbia

Dr. Guruduth Banavar, CTO and Head of Discovery AI, Viome – video message (US)
Dr. Alex Aliper, President, Insilico Medicine (US)
Prof. Miroslava Čuperlovic-Culf, Senior Research Officer, National Research Council Canada (Canada)
Dr. Lu Zheng, Head of Value Based Partnerships and Digital Health, Europe & Canada, Takeda (Switzerland)

14:00 – 15:15

Unleashing the Potential of Genetic Medicine

Moderator: Jelena Bojović, Director, C4IR Serbia & Program Director, NALED

Dr. Ning Li, Vice President, BGI Group (China)
Dr. Mark Bale, Consultant in genomics, policy and bioethics & Interim Director, HSE’s National Genetics and Genomics Office (UK)
Prof. Yang YE, Deputy Director General, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (China)
Dr. 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, 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, Republic of Serbia
Dubravka Đedović Handanović, Minister of Mining and Energy, Republic of Serbia
Ivana Popović, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Serbia Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of
Sandra Dokić – Secretary of State, Ministry of Environmental Protection of Serbia

15:15 – 16:15

Bridging Borders: Serbia’s Biotechnology Footprint

Moderator: Prof. Robert Wolcott, Co-founder, and Chair, World Innovation Network (TWIN Global)

Prof. Zoran Obradović, Distinguished Professor and a Center director, Temple University (US)
Dr. Nataša Skoko, Head of Biotech Development Unit, ICGEB (Italy)
Dr. Staša Stanković, Strategy Consultant, Genomics for Drug Discovery, AstraZeneca (UK)
Prof. Vladimir Brusić, Professor in Computer Science, University of Nottingham Ningbo (China)
Dr. Vladimir Cmiljanović, Chairman and CEO, Swiss Rockets (Switzerland)

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:

White Lemur; Eko Bio Invest; BioCombact; Energy Cube; Solagro; HerbElixa; Belinda Animals; DiaSolution; Bifrost Bioplastic; Cropt

16:15 – 16:45

Keynote talk

Fireside chat: Moderator Prof. Robert C. Wolcott, Co-founder and Chair of The World Innovation Network – TWIN Global

Dr. Reshma Shetty, Co-Founder, Ginkgo Bioworks (US)

16:45 – 17:00

Signing Ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and Ginkgo Bioworks

17:00 – 18:00

Networking Cocktail

20 Oct Friday

08:45 – 09:00

Registration

09:00 – 12:00

WEF Bioeconomy Workshop (By invitation only)

Chair: Brynne Stanton, Thematic Lead in Bioeconomy, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, World Economic Forum (Switzerland)
Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary of I&C and IT Departments, Telangana Government (India)
Christopher Yates, Project Fellow – bioeconomy, World Economic Forum (Switzerland)
Rebecca Donaldson, Project Fellow – bioeconomy, World Economic Forum (Switzerland)
Nenad Paunović, Director of the Information Technologies and Entrepreneurship team, Office of the Prime Minister of Serbia

12:00 – 12:15

Break

12:15 – 14:15

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), EMBL-EBI (UK): Global Alliance for Genomics and Health in 2023
Ning Li, Vice President of BGI Group (China): China’s efforts in genomics
Dr. Branislava Gemović, Project Manager at the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Serbia and Researcher at the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, University of Belgrade (Serbia): Genetic and Biomedical Data Registry in Serbia

14:15 – 15:30

Lunch

Biotech Future Forum 2023: Main Conference Hall 1

Biotech Future Forum 2023: Conference Hall 2 – Biotech Potential

Biotech Future Forum 2023: Conference Hall 3 – Healthier Tomorrow

Biotech Future Forum 2023: Conference Hall 4 – Green District

The first international conference, Biotech Future Forum, #BioTechBEG22, was held on October 20-21, 2022, at the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade. The conference welcomed over 600 participants and 50 speakers and moderators from 30 countries around the world, representing all continents. The primary focus was on topics such as biotechnology, bioinformatics, and bioengineering, with a special emphasis on precision medicine, digitalization of healthcare, and drug discovery.

The conference was officially opened by the Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, and the President of the World Economic Forum, Børge Brende. During the event, they officially launched the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Serbia as a joint initiative.

20 Oct Thursday

08:30 – 09:30

Registration & Coffee

09:30 – 10:00

Opening remarks & Launch of the C4IR Serbia

Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Serbia
Børge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum
Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme – video message

10:00 – 11:00

Leadership Panel: Building a Biotech Nation

Opening remarks: Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, UAE – video message
Moderator: Marta Arsovska Tomovska, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Serbia

Branko Ružić, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development, Serbia
Yves Iradukunda, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, Rwanda
Khalfan Juma Belhoul, CEO of Dubai Future Foundation, United Arab Emirates
Dr. Fabio Scano, WHO Representative, Serbia

11:00 – 11:30

Break

11:30 – 12:30

Parallel sessions

Data Session: Data Science in Biotechnology
Moderator and chair of the session: Dr. Nevenka Dimitrova , VP Data Science and Data Services at the GlaxoSmithKline

Dr. Mihailo Jovanović, Director of the Office for IT and eGovernment, Serbia
Dr. Ali Taha KOÇ, Head of the Digital Transformation Office, Türkiye
Dr. Branka Rakić, Senior Researcher, Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Serbia
Dr. Milan Petković, Head, AI & Data Science at the Philips Company, Netherlands

Deep-Dive Session: How we do it?
Moderator: Kelly McCain, Head of Healthcare Initiatives, World Economic Forum

Jeedigunta Satyanarayana, Chief Advisor at the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution India
Jelena Bojović, Director of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Serbia
Joris Cyizere, Acting Managing Director of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Rwanda
Marcos Vinícius de Souza, Director of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Brazil
Dr. Yehudit Cohen, Scientific Director at MIDGAM – Israel National Biobank for Research, Israel

12:30 – 14:00

Family photo & Lunch break

14:00 – 14:30

Keynote Talk

Prof. George Church, Founding Core Faculty & Lead of Synthetic Biology at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University; Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Director of the National Institute of Health Center of Excellence in Genomics Science – online

14:30 – 15:30

Parallel sessions

Academia session: Biotechnology – How is it shaping our future?
Moderator and chair of the session: Dr. Jelena Begović, Director of Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering (IMGGE) and Full Research Professor

Dr. Charles Ruranga, Director of the African Centre of Excellence in Data Science, Rwanda
Dr. Claudia Vickers, Chief Scientific Officer at Eden Brew, Australia
Kiren Naidoo, CEO of Zdravlje A.D. and Founder of Frontier Pharma, UK
Martin Mössler, Managing Director of Science Park Graz, Austria
Dr. Nataša Skoko, Head of Biotechnology Development Unit at International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Italy

Business session: Accelerating innovation
Moderator and chair of the session: Prof. Robert C. Wolcott, Co-Founder and Chairman of The World Innovation Network (TWIN) and Adjunct Professor of Innovation at Booth School of Business at University of Chicago & Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University

Dan Vahdat, CEO of Huma, UK
Gloria Seibert, Founder & CEO at Temedica, Germany
Dr. Milan Obradović, Senior Global Scientific Director Integrated Healthcare Solutions, Global Medical Affairs at Roche, Switzerland
Dr. Ulrich A.K. Betz, Vice President Innovation in Merck, Germany
William Moss, CEO of Seven Bridges Genomics, USA

15:30 – 16:00

BIO4 Campus Presentation

Dr. Jelena Begović, Director of Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering (IMGGE) and Full Research Professor

Nenad Paunović, Director of the IT and Entrepreneurship team in the Office of the Prime Minister of Serbia

16:00 – 16:30

Keynote Talk

Dr. George Yancopoulos, Co-founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals & President at Regeneron Research Laboratories – online