eLife (May 2020)

Bioengineering horizon scan 2020

  • Luke Kemp,
  • Laura Adam,
  • Christian R Boehm,
  • Rainer Breitling,
  • Rocco Casagrande,
  • Malcolm Dando,
  • Appolinaire Djikeng,
  • Nicholas G Evans,
  • Richard Hammond,
  • Kelly Hills,
  • Lauren A Holt,
  • Todd Kuiken,
  • Alemka Markotić,
  • Piers Millett,
  • Johnathan A Napier,
  • Cassidy Nelson,
  • Seán S ÓhÉigeartaigh,
  • Anne Osbourn,
  • Megan J Palmer,
  • Nicola J Patron,
  • Edward Perello,
  • Wibool Piyawattanametha,
  • Vanessa Restrepo-Schild,
  • Clarissa Rios-Rojas,
  • Catherine Rhodes,
  • Anna Roessing,
  • Deborah Scott,
  • Philip Shapira,
  • Christopher Simuntala,
  • Robert DJ Smith,
  • Lalitha S Sundaram,
  • Eriko Takano,
  • Gwyn Uttmark,
  • Bonnie C Wintle,
  • Nadia B Zahra,
  • William J Sutherland

DOI
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.54489
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

Read online

Horizon scanning is intended to identify the opportunities and threats associated with technological, regulatory and social change. In 2017 some of the present authors conducted a horizon scan for bioengineering (Wintle et al., 2017). Here we report the results of a new horizon scan that is based on inputs from a larger and more international group of 38 participants. The final list of 20 issues includes topics spanning from the political (the regulation of genomic data, increased philanthropic funding and malicious uses of neurochemicals) to the environmental (crops for changing climates and agricultural gene drives). The early identification of such issues is relevant to researchers, policy-makers and the wider public.

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