NALED and Serbia's delegation at a meeting with British minister
Bearing in mind the expertise and experience of British experts in the field of biotechnology, biomedicine and biodiversity, the delegation of the Republic of Serbia spent the previous week on a study visit to the United Kingdom, during which they met with numerous scientists and doctors from some of the country's most important scientific research institutions.
The delegation was led by the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technological Development, Jelena Begović, and along with NALED representatives, it involved members of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Technological Development, the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, the Office for IT and eGovernment, the Center for the fourth industrial revolution (C4IR), the Institute for Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering (IMGGI), the Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy (INEP).
The participants first visited the Embassy of Serbia in Great Britain. On that occasion, the delegation met with Ambassador Aleksandra Joksimović and Serbian scientists in London who work for the most prestigious institutions and companies in the mentioned fields, including Oxford.
To exchange experiences and learn from best practice examples, the delegation visited the e Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Wellcome Genome Campus & Imperial College London White City Campus. Biomedical campus u Cambridge is the largest medical research and health studies center in Europe. The symbol of this campus is the global R&D center and the seat of global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
The Wellcome Genome Campus in Hinkston is home to some of the most renowned institutes and organizations in the field of genomics and computational biology, such as our hosts - the Wellcome Sanger Institute and EMBL-EBI, the European Bioinformatics Institute.
White City Campus Imperial College London, which is among the top 10 universities in the world in the fields of science, engineering, medicine and business, has opened the doors of its MSRH molecular science research hub. Management campuses like these are a model for the construction of the BIO4 campus, a new bioeconomic hub in our country and the wider region.
The most important part of the visit involved bilateral meetings with the global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca at their headquarters in Cambridge and the Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation, George Freeman, during which further steps in R&D cooperation between the UK and Serbia were agreed.
In addition, the delegation met with colleagues from numerous other successful companies in the field of biotechnology and biomedicine, discussing the innovations they introduced in the mentioned fields and the challenges they faced along the way. Some of them are Alasdair Tong, one of the founders of Selvedge Venture, Dr. Slaven Steković, Chief Scientist of the next-generation business company Multiomic Health, Dr. Nikola Novčić, Director of Business Operations at Quell Therapeutics, Dr. Sally Ann Forsyth, Director of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, as well as Dr. Jennifer Warsnell of the Cambridge Academy of Therapeutic Sciences.
The study visit was realized through the UK Excellence Biotech Hub project implemented by NALED, with the support of the British Embassy in Belgrade and the Government of the United Kingdom.
