TY - JOUR AB - As part of the SYNBIOSAFE project, we carried out an open electronic conference (e-conference), with the aim to stimulate an open debate on the societal issues of synthetic biology in a proactive way. The e-conference attracted 124 registered participants from 23 different countries and different professional backgrounds, who wrote 182 contributions in six different categories: (I) Ethics; (II) Safety; (III) Security; (IV) IPR; (V) Governance and regulation; (VI) and Public perception. In this paper we discuss the main arguments brought up during the e-conference and provide our conclusions about how the community thinks, and thinks differently on the societal impact of synthetic biology. Finally we conclude that there is a chance for an open discourse on the societal issues of synthetic biology happening, and that the rules to govern such a discourse might be set up much easier and be respected more readily than many would suggest. AU - Schmidt, Markus AU - Torgersen, Helge AU - Ganguli-Mitra, Agomoni AU - Kelle, Alexander AU - Deplazes, Anna AU - Biller-Andorno, Nikola DA - 2008/08/18/ DO - 10.1007/s11693-008-9019-y JF - Systems and Synthetic Biology PY - 2008 SE - 2008/08/07/ TI - SYNBIOSAFE e-conference: online community discussion on the societal aspects of synthetic biology UR - http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/189/art%253A10.1007%252Fs11693-008-9019-y.pdf?auth66=1399212896_36eae4af70fbc561944e86c4c18bc294&ext=.pdf UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11693-008-9019-y ER -