Synthetic Biology and the Dilemmas of Innovation Governance

Abstract

Societies seek security through the development and maintenance of innovation systems, but innovation can also generate insecurity. This then appears to create conflicting demands for exploitation and precaution. In different national contexts, different approaches to managing this apparent dilemma have emerged. A key challenge raised by fields such as synthetic biology is that they tend to raise questions which go beyond the limits of existing expert knowledge and risk management systems. In this chapter, major initiatives to pre-emptively engage with such concerns are reviewed and critically assessed.