This third industrial dialogue of the SMART-map project held in Manchester on 9-10 March was focused on responsible development in synthetic biology and it was brought together by two of the SMART-map partners, the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University.

The format replicated the format used in the previous two workshops (held in Aarhus and in Munich) and included different breakout sessions.

The participants ranged from university researchers working in synthetic biology to social scientists, industry players from small biotech and large multinationals but also regulators and members of civil society organisations.

At the end of the two-day workshop, they came up with three different tools to embed responsible research and innovation in synthetic biology.

According to Sally Randles from Manchester Metropolitan University, the take home message of this event is that it is possible to bring together different stakeholders and it is possible to make the workshop productive through this participatory methodology.

In this short video, she gives an overview of the synthetic biology situation in the UK, especially with regard to responsible innovation.

The results of this first Dialogue on synthetic Biology will be compared with the outcomes of the mirror Dialogue, which will be held in June in Budapest.