BGI, world leading genomics centre in Beijing, announced the establishment of European Headquarter in Copenhagen at the “Denmark – China Economic & Trade Cooperation Forum” yesterday when more than 100 Chinese business people, China’s Minister of Commerce and 20 of his high-level officials shake hands with some of their Danish counterparts, including Foreign Minister Lene Espersen, it will be nothing short of a historic moment for corporate Denmark.
The Danish-Chinese Forum will host some of the most significant commercial Chinese delegation yet to set its foot in Denmark, both in terms of the size of the participating companies and their standing.
A key event in Denmark today – at the China Economic & Trade Cooperation Forum – will be the igning of a contract by Chinese genomics giant BGI resulting in the establishment of this company’s European headquarter in Copenhagen. During the first year, BGI plans to invest USD 10 million in Denmark and to recruit 20-50 people as local staff.
BGI’s next step will be to establish a sequencing platform necessitating the employment of another 50-100 people. Invest in Denmark – the investment promotion arm of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs – has played an active role in ensuring BGI’s establishment in Denmark.
Professor Songgang Li of BGI:
“We are becoming increasingly international. We were the only non-western company that contributed to the Human Genomic Project and presently we are – among numerous other projects – leading an international collaboration to sequence 1,000 plants and animals of economic and scientific import. So, we are constantly looking for new partners and investment opportunities around the world, and the strong and still growing research community within biotech in Denmark has attracted our attention. We see some interesting prospects for partnership, and I feel confident that we have acted wisely in selecting Denmark as our European base.”
