BGI: China meets Europe in the Baltics

BGI China

“An attractive and dynamic business climate for high value-added products – indeed, that is what we see in Latvia.” BGI, one of the world’s largest genomics organizations, is a striking example of how LIAA attracts foreign investment and successful companies to Latvia.

BGI is a new type of technology organization in China that contributes to research and the application of genomics across multiple fields, including healthcare, pharmaceutics, conservation, and the environment. Genomics is a huge industry in China, given its population of 1.43 billion people. According to Beijing-based CCID Consulting, China’s gene technology market will double in the next five years and be worth more than 18.3 billion yuan (2.6 billion dollars) by 2022.

We recently met up with Dr. Wang Jian, the co-founder, and chairman of BGI, at Lidostas Parks, an upcoming BGI production facility in Europe. This was his second time in Latvia. On his previous trip, he went for an eye-opening stroll through Latvia’s forests to get to know the traditional hobby of mushroom picking.

Jian has received several international awards for his work in research and has been listed by Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters) as one of the world’s Highly Cited Researchers. He has also joined forces with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as part of BGI’s partnerships to make a meaningful contribution to global health and agricultural developments. Jian is currently focused on research and the application of genomics and bioinformatics in different areas of life sciences.