Published November 26, 2019
MGI officially opened a new R&D and manufacturing facility in Riga, Latvia, creating a bridge between China and Europe for life sciences and health research. The 7,000 square-metre facility, located near Riga International Airport, will host a product manufacturing centre, High-Throughput Sequencing Customer Experience Center, training centre, and logistics hub. It also houses the China-Europe Life Health Innovation Center to strengthen cooperation in research, industrial applications, and technical standards.
Global and Regional Significance
Leading dignitaries at the opening included Ralfs Nemiro, Minister of Economic Affairs of Latvia; Liang Jianquan, Ambassador of China in Latvia; Professor Lars Engstrand of the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden; and Duncan Yu, President of MGI. Minister Nemiro highlighted the facility’s role in advancing scientific research capabilities, while Ambassador Liang called it the first life science and technology centre in Central and Eastern Europe established by a Chinese enterprise.
Duncan Yu emphasised that Latvia’s biotechnology foundation, combined with MGI’s leading products and technology, will enable the formation of a European life science innovation platform centred on gene technology. The facility is designed to build a complete service and product supply chain, efficiently meet customer needs, and strengthen MGI’s presence in the European market.
Facility Capabilities and Projects
MGI-Latvia supports R&D, testing, regional sales, and maintenance. It has obtained CE certification for four sequencers and various reagents, and is actively supporting the Latvian Biomedical Center in genomics projects, including studies on rare genetic diseases and gastric cancer prevention. The facility also hosts collaborations like the 10 Million Single-Cell Transcriptome Project (scT10M), aimed at sequencing and analysing 10 million cells to build a comprehensive single-cell map for global scientific use.
Professor Lars Engstrand praised the new facility, noting that it will attract top European research projects and generate impactful scientific results. The Latvia base strengthens MGI’s global ecosystem, complementing R&D and production centres in Shenzhen, Wuhan, Qingdao, and San Jose, USA, and positions MGI to advance medical health, technology services, high-end manufacturing, and agriculture across Europe.
