Synenergene

An important but sometimes underestimated part of iGEM is the applicability of the created product. Our collaboration with Synenergene challenged us to think beyond the scientific possibilities of our project and place it in a social framework. We asked ourselves several questions. What is our target group? How will the product be applied? Is it user friendly? What are the alternatives? How could this product impact society? The answers to these questions were all considered and combined in the application scenario where we explore how our product is going to be used and produced and the challenges involved.

You can find our detailed written application scenario here.

We also made a future scenario where Banana Guard is widely used and spread and can be chosen as one of the solutions. This scenario serves to explore future applications and to ask questions about public choice and trust.

You can find this vignette here.

We explored the ethics and dilemmas involved with science with our techno-moral scenarios. In contrast to dozens of technology doom stories this short story is not just meant to scare or for sensation. The aim of this scenario is to explore extreme possibilities to give us further insight into problems society has to tackle in the future. The scenario deals with questions as: Who is the terrorist in modern days? Do we label someone as terrorist to easily? How do we handle the power of extremely large companies, and what can they do? What can patents on scarce products (like medicines) do to the world and how can new expensive technologies influence world power relations?

These questions are not answered but come forward into an interesting scenario that can be the basis of a discussion or workshop that might eventually give an answer. It is good to realize that many of these questions and dilemmas are already a problem these days and that these will become more important as science further develops new technologies. The importance of the societal discussion can therefore not be underestimated and we are glad we participated in it with Synenergene and our meetings with RIVM.

You can find our second techno-moral vignette here.