BGI Group headquartered in Shenzhen, China, is the world’s largest genome research organization innovating at the forefront of genomic technologies. VIB, headquartered in Ghent, Belgium, is a leading life science institute excelling in ground breaking research and translating science into innovations and value for society.

By signing a Memorandum of Understanding, VIB and BGI have now agreed to share knowledge, technology, and expertise in order to accelerate progress in genomic research and enabling technologies in a broad scientific field including health care and agriculture.

Through this strategic collaboration, VIB and BGI will establish joint research programs and conduct co-developments on innovative applications of single cell sequencing, health monitoring omics and more. 

Johan Cardoen, Co-Managing Director of VIB: “Over the past years, VIB has heavily invested in the development and applications of state-of-the art technologies. Exchanging and bundling our expertise with BGI is a recognition of VIB’s excellence in science as well as in technological development and innovation. This partnership is expected to generate newly applicable scientific results and the next generation of enabling and disruptive technologies in the life sciences.

Jian Wang, President and co-founder of BGI: “VIB is a well-renowned international life sciences research institute with a strong focus on translating basic scientific results into pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial applications. I foresee a great synergy between the two organisations with the integration of our respective expertises and capabilities in our fields working towards our shared goal to apply science and innovation for the benefit  people and the environment.”