Team:Valencia UPV/Practices
Valencia-UPV team strongly believes that Synthetic Biology has the potential to change our world for good. To fulfil this potential, we as technologists should avoid repeating earlier technology mistakes, and very especially we should avoid developing a technology that ends up benefiting only a few. In line with this, the Philosophy guiding the Valencia-UPV iGEM team considers Synthetic Biology as a technology that should be employed to the benefit of the Society in its broadest sense, and should be mainly directed to benefit those that need it most. In other words, we at the UPV-Team envision a Synthetic for the People. We also believe that the most efficient strategy to reach this aim is by narrowing the gap between the technology and the society. For this we need to increase the understanding of the technology, simplify procedures, develop open-source tools and instruments, and popularize its use. In other words, we envision a Synthetic Biology not only for the people, but also by the People. Popularization of Synthetic Biology should not be at odds with safety. Broad use of the technology should walk along with a deep understanding of the risks/benefits balance of each project and should be always accompanied by the development and fulfilment of strict safety measures that ensure that each technical development brought to practice is harmless for the people and the environment. These are the three principles that inspired our Policy and Practices activities and indeed our project as a whole: Synthetic Biology for the people, by the people, and harmless by all means. POLICY AND PRACTICES OVERVIEW