 Sledaj, dva svoja dvodina. Srečno, smo vse predstavili tehnologične revolucije. If you are excited about artificial intelligence, you might be surprised what is coming next. Israelis call it bio-convergence, McKinsey call it bio-revolution, some even call it the 15th industrial revolution. Steve Jobs also had some fantastic thoughts about it, but I will let our speakers tell you more about it. Today I'm very happy to introduce a very globally renowned scientist from the genetic field, the long-standing director of the Serbia Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, the president of the governing board of the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, and now the minister of science, innovation and technological development from the Republic of Serbia, Dr. Jelena Begovic. Please come to the stage. The other great speaker for today comes from a very different environment. He is a venture investor. He comes from London, from UK. He is founder of Salvage Ventures and the venture partner of Mubadala Life Science Fund. The last information I got is that it is worth 1.1 billion pounds. So please welcome Alas Dirtong, who will start the speech. Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to us today. I'm going to be talking a little bit about the biotechnology revolution and how the changes over the last 10, 20 years will fundamentally change the world in the future. For most of human history, biology has been trial and error. And by trial and error, what we mean is that we were limited by what we could observe with the human eye and what we could do with our hands. It took a very long time for us to be able to realize that there was literally more than meets the eye, and healthcare and treatment was often relied on mysticism or tradition rather than science. And our ancestors now would probably look at what we have achieved scientifically and think that it was crazy. But as we can see, Arthur C. Clarke once said, any sufficiently advanced technology isn't distinguishable from magic. What changed over the last couple of hundred years is that we invented and created enabling technologies that have allowed us to go deeper and allows us to see more than meets the eye. Tools like the microscope, as you can see, allowed us to see cells and microorganisms, enabling technologies such as electricity and temperature control also enabled us to have a very deep view of science in a way that frankly, as I said before, our ancestors would never have been able to do. Things really, really advance further in the 1980s, in particularly around commercial technologies and companies which created biologic therapies, in particular Amgen and Genentec, two large American companies with the creation of a poet in Alfa and Somersotan, whereby they were able to manufacture these products in living cells, in Chinese hamster ovri cells and bacterial cells, by inserting the gene, a gene basically which allows them to produce certain products. And you can think of this in a similar way to how a factory might use a set of schematics to produce a particular product. This was basically done in biology and has created a wave of new technologies and new products across healthcare, life sciences, environment, climate and materials. Now we exist in a different way in 2023 where biology is not just a biotechnology, but biology exists as a technology. And what I mean when I say this is that, as you can see from the picture here, there are a number of different analogies that we can take and one of them is building. If you're a builder who just has a hammer, you're limited to building things in a very, very one-dimensional way, simply by hammering things. You're limited also by the creativity you can have and everything else. This represents really the rocks that you have there. This is the trial and error biology that I described earlier. It's very challenging to know what you don't know and without the tools to see properly, you can't do more. The image in the middle represents biotechnology such that with multiple tools, such as a spade, a hammer, a screwdriver and other hand tools, you can build intermediately complicated projects such as a house as an example, but you're again limited by what the human body is able to achieve in contrast, the last picture represents modern construction. In order to build a skyscraper, you need many modern technologies and tools which didn't exist a long time ago. Hydraulic cranes, modern architecture techniques, fancy materials and regulations in order to make sure that standards are kept. This would be biology as a technology that I described earlier in that with a culmination of build-up of multiple technologies which are extremely complicated, as well as several projects which are, frankly, solving very, very large problems which would have been unthinkable before. And to take some examples of projects which have created biology as a technology, I've got three examples here. The first being the human genome project. This was a project that started in 1984 and functionally mapped all of the roles and structures of genes in the human body. It was functionally completed in 2001 and set a 9.7% completion of both structure and function of human genes. Enabling technologies and tools to build this included things like PCR sequencing, bioinformatics, and otherwise. And, again, without those things put together and combined, we would not be able to have the precision medicines with genetics that exist today such as Herceptin, a very powerful breast cancer treatment which relies on genetics to target. A second example could be AlphaFold and this was the solving of all the protein structures and confirmations done by Google DeepMind completed in 2020. Similar to the human genome project, this will enable a whole new revolution in proteomics and protein targeted therapeutics which, again, would not be possible without many enabling technologies such as long read sequencing, again PCR sequencing and otherwise which combine one combined together and computational biology, structural biology, etc. And by combining these things together, again, we were able to create a tool in an atlas which we would not be able to do before. The last example I have up here is CRISPR which is a gene editing technology, a far more advanced version of being able to edit a genome of a living organism compared to what Amgen and Genentec pioneered in the 1980s. Similar to the other two, it's an enabling technology that will enable fundamentally life changing treatments for humans but separately also actions and it's a pair of molecular scissors compared to the human genome project in AlphaFolg which could be much more viewed as schematics and an atlas. This is really all been enabled by interdisciplinary convergence of multiple areas of both life sciences, biotechnology, IT, etc. As well as a number of trends such as the falling cost of sequencing, cheap GPUs with incredible power, advanced artificial intelligence algorithms and otherwise. In the future we expect that these things will continue to converge and continue to build fundamentally changing technologies and products across all sorts of different areas not just life sciences and healthcare and therapeutics. To recap as I talked about before we understood biology as trial and error for the longest time. There was the birth of biotechnology about 40 years ago whereby we could edit and change cells to create products and we expect to enter a golden era of biotechnology where biology is used as a technology when new industries are created disrupted and reinvented. And some of the issues that we will hopefully try and solve with this revolution of biotechnology we can see above that we are going to hit a global population of almost 10 billion by 2050. There is going to be almost a 50% increase in global cancer deaths by 2030. Almost 20% of adolescents in the US diabetes, cardiovascular disease vati liver disease, cancer, etc. And still to this day 31% of all premature deaths worldwide come from cardiovascular disease and this includes war, famine, pestilence and everything else in between. There are still huge problems that need to be solved and biotechnology and biology as a technology will do these things. This is a multi trillion dollar opportunity for reinvention and economic gain. As a result of this for this golden era it isn't just about the technology there will be a new generation of life scientists and entrepreneurs with both very different priorities and very different backgrounds that will innovate materials and processes that have never existed before. And what I mean by this is similar to what Premier Lee mentioned in the plenary session this morning entrepreneurship will look very different in the future and not just in tech in life sciences as well. Science in 2023 has generally been not equal at a global level and actors who are able to improve global development of science and life science in biotechnology need to act together and cooperate in order to build this future that we're talking about a little bit now. So how are we able to capture and prepare for this revolution in biology and the changes that it will bring? I can only speak for myself as an investor but we see so many interesting opportunities in such a way now that didn't exist 10 years ago but I would like to now hand over to our Excellency Minister Begovic to talk a little bit about one country in Europe in which they are developing and building this huge revolution in biotechnology. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning everyone. So there are two questions that should follow this. Why should we prepare and when? So the answer to the first one is not only the biology and scientists will be influenced by this revolution in biology. We have to be aware that our economies our social systems and every single each individual on this planet will be influenced by this revolution. The second question is when to become when to start the preparations. The best answer is of course well the best time was 12 years ago. The second best time is today so we shouldn't wait. So why 12 years ago? Well 12 years ago I always refer to Steve Jobs I take him as a big visionary of our time a person who really influenced our lives on regular everyday basis so he foreseen that the merging between biology and technology between life sciences and the ICT is a new revolution and a new era that is coming. Although now we can say it's already here. So today we have companies that transferred big factories that are talking about thousands of square meters 10,000 square meters to microns, to living organisms we have companies that are offering the production of any kind of compound in a living organism. Then when you see that companies or agencies like Boston Consulting Group or McKinsey are talking about biotec and synthetic biology that is coming it's around the corner and it's going to change the industry it's going to move trillions of dollars within the economies well half of the population is very happy and I'm the one half of it but the second part of the population gets a little bit scary so what is happening what is going to happen with our societies what is going to happen with our jobs definitely the consulting and financial groups are talking about biotec so this is happening and this is going to influence our lives so let's see how we can prepare I am speaking from a point of the minister of science of a small country on Balkans in Europe on this planet so this is the country with the I would say almost the perfect spot on this globe because it's a spot where east and west meet north and south meet it's a country where you don't need visas to come to to come to Serbia whether you come from India from China, from United States Europe all around the world so it's a perfect spot to start something that should grow to become international base of development and we definitely as a government came to the decision that we are going towards the development of bioeconomy to development new bio hub in Europe so far for past 7 to 10 years we invested heavily in innovation system through building science technology parks through building different small innovation centers because as a small country we want to reach every single entrepreneur, every single innovator every single scientist within our country we need them all so we want to gather them and we want to bring them together around one idea and this is the building of a new innovation ecosystem in our country in parallel and of course we have a huge and long successful history in education and success in science in STEM particularly in STEM areas so we are building the ecosystem for the future development we are investing heavily in national data center super computers so we are trying now to put together all the pieces of the puzzle that we already have together with the world economic forum we open a center for the fourth industrial revolution third one in Europe sixteenth in the world and we are focused in this center on biotec and AI because we see these actually as a fifth industrial revolution so the convergence between ICT AI and life sciences why these four key key areas of life because these are the major challenges healthcare system food production and agriculture energy and environment protection this is something that concerns all the countries in the world this is something that concerns every single individual on this planet so we are building a bio for campus it's a platform for collaboration it's a platform where we are bringing together academia, private sector government all the grey cells that we have in the country and all the infrastructure that we have in the country and in big investments in this bio for campus bio for comes from biomedicine, biotechnology, bioinformatics and bio diversity so for bios we will see the future development of our country so what are we doing we are actually not starting from the zero as I mentioned we have excellent science we have army of scientists we are just putting them together for the collaboration we are putting six faculties nine research institutes we are also building a new scientific science technology park for the support of startup community for the support of startup community in the area of biotec and AI because our country showed immense success in the development of ICT industry this is our second export field so we already have again all the pieces of the puzzle behind me you will see how this platform will look like with different core facilities but what is also important as much as our academia that's the private sector big pharma companies and R&D centers so we want to create an R&D center in Europe to become a really global spot for innovations of course this has to be international center to attract people not only for the region not only from the Europe but really from the whole world because the collaboration is the key we cannot do it alone no one can do alone we need different stakeholders but also we need as much as we can get a huge amount of gray cells because this is the only way how are we going to tackle all the challenges that are really growing and becoming destruction and huge problem for every individual on this planet the key is in communication we do have a lot of institutes but we figure out that we have to bring them together we have to bring them together with the government with the non-governmental sector and we have to start collaborating so I have one more minute but I want you to see this is going to be a new city in Belgrade this is going to be a game changer for our science this is going to be a game changer for science in the whole region and this is how we see the future development of our innovation ecosystem through education and through investments in science so this is our invitation for everyone to join the revolution in biology because all the centuries I can say there were centuries of mathematics so this is the constant it will stay the century of chemistry and physics and now we enter the 21st century with the biology with the core processes of life and nature and now we have a technology that is starting to change the evolution of all living organisms including the humans so imagine the implications of such a powerful technology to our lives in a very near future that's it, right? ok so thank you very much this is my invitation so please visit Serbia Belgrade before expo 2027 this is I think an excellent opportunity for you to see we're starting to build this city at the end of this year so we're planning to finish it in two years space for companies space for universities space for scientists and space for all the smart people in this world now first of all I would like to thank you for being here today with us and now we're at your disposal if you have any questions any comments anything that can give us any indication of I think crucial things and the changes that are ahead of us please good morning thank you so much for your presentations my name is Tetenda Murigo I'm a global shaper from the Harare Hub and I'm a biotechnology and biochemistry student at the University of Zimbabwe I would like to ask about more space for people who want to promote education for younger students particularly people within primary and secondary education one example that I could give would be creating of molecular biology kits that can be used in underprivileged communities whereby they don't have access to the physical laboratory but they still need to learn certain aspects of molecular biology appreciation of it as can we support biotic innovators within the science education space thank you for the science it's becoming really clear that we have to start with education as soon as possible because we need new generations that understand new technologies this goes the same with AI for instance in Serbia we introduce the programming and AI from the elementary school from the first first grade of elementary school from the fifth grade they already are learning python and different AI tools but this goes the same with the biotec yes I completely agree that some kits can be developed and actually you can isolate DNA without any kind of kit you know you need a juice you need some ice and some alcohol and you can really demonstrate to the kids what is DNA and some similar kits can be really applied also I think we should use more informational technologies through for instance YouTube you can find such amazing lectures on basics of molecular biology chemistry, physics that can you know understand the regular person that is not in this art or it can be understood by a kid but I think we should focus and I agree we should focus on younger generations because it's very difficult to foresee what is ahead of us and we have to prepare them for the new jobs for the new challenges that are very hard to foreseen at this moment but then again innovation and centers like this and centers in your country that are promoting science within young populations are very, very important I would just add also that it's what you focus on as well so the rise of everything that ministers talked about is underpinned by computational biology a lot of it actually and bioinformatics doesn't need a wet lab for the most part you need data and if you have the data and if you have a laptop you can be a scientist now in a way that you can never be before so I would also encourage countries and places where if you don't have access to a wet lab focus on what you do have access to double down on that Yes, yes Hi, good morning thank you for a very insightful presentation I think synthetic biology is the buzzword these days my name is Amit Kakkar I'm an MD in oncology part of the Novorodist Foundation very actively involved in both life science and sustainability investments we do have innovation hubs in Copenhagen right now and we're looking to see what we can do across the world I think one of the key questions is where does the innovation come from do you have the basic pool of innovators like academia and other innovators in Serbia right now and I apologize I'm not being rude here I don't have any idea about that and because we see that academia I live in Singapore and we see that coming in from ASTAR, NUS, China it comes from CAS, Speaking University Copenhagen it's from Arhus CPH Business School so can you elaborate a little bit more about the Serbian ecosystem where academia is concerned? Absolutely so the innovations come both from the industry and academia so we worked a lot on structuring the system because we were facing the situation where the invention is there and they started to somehow develop towards innovation and then in that chain in that pipeline something was missing so we had to build stronger supporting system the identification of innovation to explaining to scientists particularly in the areas where every single paper is also kind of innovation how to overcome those borders that they were in their brains in their minds and how to pursue innovation and what are the benefits of becoming an entrepreneur we don't expect of course that everyone will be entrepreneurs it's not a good thing because where the world will go in which direction if everyone were entrepreneurs so you always have in a population a percentage of those who are really willing to risk and the change of mindset up that a failure to fail is a good thing that I see also in Europe that it's still a problem so we are working a lot with faculties, with research institute with individual scientists through different trainings through different visits to other ecosystems just to create a minimum number of those who are willing to try successfully in ICT of course when we talk about biotech it's a completely different story it's highly risk it takes a long time it takes high high investments so it's ten times everything compared to ICT but nevertheless we decided that we will support and now we have a growth in number of companies that are biotech and combination of particular combination AI and bio, AI and medicine so we are now with the most of the we have mostly innovations in this field but we see now that other fields are growing particularly in agritech and medicine but it's a process I would also just add on that that as an investor what makes the biophore campus so interesting is that it becomes a hub for the region because currently no hub in that region the hubs in Europe and the UK Switzerland, Denmark as you mentioned Spain to some extent now with Moderna and BMS moving large R&D facilities there but there is no hub in Serbia or in the Balkans, or in Turkey or in Egypt or in any of the countries there and by building this the smartest people from those places will go to Serbia now at least as a starting point because it's a lot easier and it's a lot more valuable but it's going on in your beautiful country Belgrade is an amazing city Serbia is an amazing country and you really have to go mentioning the age of biology and life sciences mentioning this huge hub you are building I give you maybe it's not an advice but an idea, you mentioned Demososaurus in an alpha fold this is a fantastic story I think building up no matter this amazing vision for Serbia you have to tell stories you have to tell who are the ones who make the biggest achievements what is their story people always connect with stories you know it's easy to say we are this and do this and this but if you add a face on it, a story to it it's better to connect and I really encourage you to come to Belgrade Thank you very much I'm the global shaper from the Shenzhen hub my name is Chun Li Deng in Chinese, Chun Li I have a very close connection with Serbia because I volunteered in the United Nations rest and coordinate office in Serbia in 2021 and I participate in many sustainable projects based in Serbia such as the green economy green agricultural culture and as the role of our office we need to negotiate among the governments NGOs, private sectors and other stakeholders so my question is like when it comes to age of biology and life science sorry, should I stand up? so how can we negotiate with different stakeholders and to mobilize the resources and impacts among the stakeholders also the impacts and a good story at the regional level and global level ok, thank you well you know we are all representatives of different countries and on different levels if we talk about innovations science, I think science is good everywhere there are regions and countries that are better in this field or that field, better in mathematics better in some other areas but for the innovation system you have to create it and you have to communicate I totally agree with all the stakeholders, but it's also important that the government is supporting for instance such a big investments and big projects so you need a strong governmental support, you need a government who is willing to change even the legal framework in order to be more supportive and more attractive whether to scientists or to the private sector in order to attract more companies to your country also the communication with the public is becoming very important because biotech as I said at a certain point people are extremely happy but also you have citizens that are becoming scared of these new technologies so constant communication is also important and we are planning multimedia multifunctional center, something between art and biotech so we can really communicate with citizens so we don't end up with situation that we have fear in societies and this is going to be more and more intense as these technologies advance as I mentioned we are starting to change the evolution of our own species so when people become aware of it they should be prepared and they should have more knowledge so communication through media communication through some public dialogue it's very important for these new technologies that I don't know whether you want to add something I think you said it very perfectly to be honest OK we have one more one more, no one more that's it? they are not giving us a second more than planned thank you very much again and we can continue after this official