(Hoover Institution) Stanford, CA — Bio-Strategies and Leadership (BSL) at the Hoover Institution and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) hosted a one-day workshop on biotechnology policy on February 27, 2025.
“Pathways to Responsible Innovation and Anticipatory Governance of Synthetic Biology” convened 50 scholars, government representatives, and industry leaders from around the globe to discuss needs and opportunities. Dialogue centered on pathogens research and biological weapons, artificial intelligence, synthetic cells, biotechnology beyond containment, and broader societal framings of biotechnology.
The workshop immediately followed and benefited from “The Spirit of Asilomar” summit marking the 50-year anniversary of the 1975 Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA Molecules, co-organized by Hoover Institution Science Fellow and Senior Fellow Drew Endy.
Workshop participants also considered how biotechnologies can be best advanced to address global challenges including healthcare, food security, and environmental protection. Discussions during the workshop will inform the ongoing development of OECD recommendations for member states.
The meeting drew from the Hoover Institution’s long history of scholars working to make a difference in the world, from Herbert Hoover’s efforts to relieve hunger during and after World War I to George P. Shultz standing up for human rights in talks with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
“Although we are on a university campus, we are not gathering here only as academics. We are here to make a difference,” Endy told participants at the start of the meeting. “The topics of our discussions matter greatly. We need to help leaders do the best they can.”
“There is so much potential here to leverage the deep community of experts at the Hoover Institution and Stanford University to feed into the development of international biotechnology policies that the OECD members are actively working on,” said David Winickoff of the OECD. “Together we will build the bridge from expertise to policy.”
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