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Strengthening Southeast Asian Academia and Industry Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Safety and Security - A Workshop

In formation

Biotechnology and biomanufacturing are priority emerging technology areas offering numerous opportunities for transforming national economies and industries. Security and policy experts have raised concerns about safety and security risks of biotechnology developments, biomanufacturing products, and associated data. The National Academies will convene an international committee of experts to conduct an international workshop with academic and industry experts in Southeast Asia to discuss safety and security concerns and mitigation strategies of biotechnology and biomanufacturing. Pre- and post-workshop webinars will be held to prepare for and translate outcomes from the discussions.

Description

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will convene an ad hoc planning committee to plan and facilitate a workshop to share examples of practices and/or frameworks for safety and security of biotechnology and biomanufacturing with academic and industry experts from Southeast Asia. The workshop will cover a variety of topics encompassing protection of sensitive biological data and research knowledge, prevention of biosecurity risks associated with biotechnology products, prevention of theft of biotechnology products or harmful exploitation of biomanufacturing facilities, detection of attempts to illicitly access and/or manipulate biological data and knowledge, and practices for minimizing these security risks associated with biomanufacturing facilities. The National Academies will invite scientific and institutional leaders from U.S. and Southeast Asian academic institutions working on emerging biotechnologies, relevant start-ups and multinational companies, and biomanufacturing facilities and experts in biological safety, security, policy, and risk assessment and mitigation to participate as experts in the workshop. These topics will not focus on vaccine manufacturing or agriculture. Prior to the workshop, the National Academies will facilitate a webinar featuring at least two of the experts invited to the workshop to discuss key practices within the lens of regional or national research and policy contexts that may inform the workshop.

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