V. Rerimassie

Early Engagement with Synthetic Biology in the Netherlands : Initiatives by the Rathenau Instituut

Synthetic biology is developing at rapid speed. On the one hand the field is expected to contribute to greening the economy, sustainable energy and public health, for example. On the other hand, synthetic biology brings about risks and also raises tough ethical and societal issues. In order to facilitate timely dialogue on how synthetic biology should develop and what conditions should be taken into account, several organizations involved in technology assessment started working on synthetic biology early on in its development. The Rathenau Instituut, based in the Netherlands, is one of these organizations. The following chapter will describe and reflect on initiatives of the institute to facilitate early engagement with synthetic biology. An analytical framework is used to better understand and distinguish these activities. Public engagement activities will be divided into three categories which relate to different spheres of the science and technology governance landscape: the political sphere, the science and technology sphere and the societal sphere. The analysis also distinguishes between informing and engaging activities. The chapter then demonstrates how interaction between the different spheres is facilitated by the Rathenau Instituut.

Public Perceptions of Science and Technology in Europe, China and India

This chapter provides a brief comparative analysis of public perceptions of science and technology in Europe, China and India. Although the available data is limited, and not always directly comparable, it is nevertheless sufficient to provide an impression of several issues that will be discussed and compared in this chapter, such as interest in and basic knowledge of science and technology, the image of science and technology and scientists, tensions between science and faith, and the benefits versus the potential risks of science and technology. The overview will be based on surveys on these issues conducted in the three regions.

Discourses on Synthetic Biology in Europe, India and China

This chapter consists of a comparative analysis of emerging debates on synthetic biology in the European Union, China and India. After briefly introducing synthetic biology as a new and emerging science, it maps and compares the emerging debates on synthetic biology in the three regions, focusing on a number of different discourses respectively relating to innovation, risk, and power and control. In addition, the chapter discusses and analyses the role of public and ethics debates as crosscutting and reflective discourses. It considers how these discourses have evolved, what the dominant themes and issues are, which actors are involved and how the discourses have been informed by the value systems and socioeconomic development in the three regions. In conclusion the governance challenges resulting from these discourses are considered.

Science and Technology Governance and European Values

Policymakers require stable anchor points for long-term policies. The governance of new technologies can be fraught with difficulties in terms of public acceptance. Strong ethical foundations can help align stakeholder interests. In democracies, such anchor points and ethical foundations can be provided through constitutional values. The main aim of this chapter is to show how European fundamental values are relevant in the governance of science and technology.

Exploring Political Views on Synthetic Biology in the Netherlands

Synthetic biology may be an important source of progress as well as societal and political conflict. Against this backdrop, several technology assessment organizations have been seeking to contribute to timely societal and political opinion-making on synthetic biology. The Rathenau Instituut, based in the Netherlands, is one of these organizations. In 2011, the institute organized a ‘Meeting of Young Minds’: a young people’s debate between ‘future synthetic biologists’ and ‘future politicians’. The former were represented by participants in the international Genetically Engineered Machines competition (iGEM), the latter by political youth organizations (PYOs) linked to Dutch political parties. The Rathenau Instituut found seven PYOs—including right wing, left wing, Green and Christian groups—willing to commit to an intensive process aimed at formulating a tentative partisan view on synthetic biology and discussing it with fellow PYOs and iGEM participants. Given the minimal amount of available data on how political parties understand synthetic biology, mapping the debate may provide valuable insights. In this article, I aim to provide such a mapping exercise and also to reflect on how and why the Rathenau Instituut organized the event.

A Comparative Framework for Studying Global Ethics in Science and Technology

In this chapter we present a framework for a comparative analysis of developments in the field of food technology, nanotechnology and synthetic biology in Europe, China and India. The focus of this framework is on science and technology discourses relating to innovation, risk, and power and control, and on ethics and public debate as reflective and crosscutting discourses. On the basis of these five discourses, developments in the different fields can be systematically described and compared across the three different regions. To illustrate our framework, we will discuss some major findings from the comparative case descriptions presented in the next three chapters of this book. In discussing these findings, we focus on the mediating role of the crosscutting discourses of reflective ethics and lay morality in science and technology policy-making in the three regions and highlight the main governance challenges arising in this context.