Investing in Success explores US leading-edge technologies and implications
11 Dec 2018
Philip Shapira, Professor of Innovation Management and Policy at Alliance Manchester Business School, has recently returned from a fieldwork visit to the San Francisco Bay Area.
He received funding from the University’s Investing in Success scheme for the visit to investigate disruptive emerging technologies, inclusion, and responsible innovation.
Investing in Success ran earlier this year, and was open to staff to apply for funding to explore ideas, create new projects, invest in their personal development and enhance the contribution that they make to the University.
Professor Shapira visited companies, researchers, and community organisations in the Bay Area, learning about synthetic biology applications in designing and making food, advanced materials, medicines, speciality chemicals, and other products. Relying increasingly on advanced data analytics and automation, these engineering biology approaches promise enhanced sustainability yet also raise concerns about risks, ethics, and equity. Professor Shapira probed how economic, environmental and societal challenges were being considered and aligned.
In a visit to Counter Culture, a community science and DIY biology hackerspace in Oakland, CA, Professor Shapira learned about efforts to develop a simpler, open, and less expensive way to make insulin. He also attended SynBioBeta 2018, in San Francisco, a global multi-day summit of biological engineers, entrepreneurs and investors.
Professor Shapira said: “This was a special opportunity to immerse myself in the Bay Area’s dynamic synthetic biology innovation cluster. It was exciting to see first-hand progress on ambitious disruptive innovation projects, to meet pioneering companies and researchers, and to discuss implications and societal concerns.”
Professor Shapira was hosted by the Engineering Biology Research Consortium at the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Emeryville, CA, where he engaged with efforts to embed societal considerations in a new US engineering biology roadmap.
The US field visit will inform Professor Shapira’s research on emerging technologies and governance with the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research and his work as lead for responsible research and innovation with the University of Manchester’s Synthetic Biology Research Centre for Fine and Speciality Chemicals.
“I will be sharing my findings with University colleagues to feed into our next round of thinking, as well as bringing new insights into my research and teaching,” added Professor Shapira. “There is much to contemplate about how we should address the opportunities and impacts of synthetic biology and other emerging technologies. I now have a much richer understanding into this as a result of my visit.”
Blogs written by Professor Shapira during his US visit can be viewed at https://pshapira.net/